“Well, what we’ve got is our’n.  He can’t prove we’ve got that there swag, and we’ll hide it where the boss can’t find it.  He hain’t seen any swag around, has he?  He can’t say he has neither, and he won’t.  He just thought maybe we had that there fox skin.  What’s that got to do with us?  We don’t care what he thinks, and what he thinks won’t hurt us as I knows of.  What we’ve got and what we ain’t got don’t make any difference to these fellers.  What they don’t know won’t hurt ’em.  It ain’t theirs, and nobody better go meddlin’ in what I has and does.  Let that there kid go now, Bill, and get him off’n our hands.”

“You just leave him to me, Hank.  I ain’t goin’ to let him go and blab, I say, and get both of us in a hole.  I’ve got some say, hain’t I, Hank?”

“Well, don’t do any croakin’ when I’m around to see, that’s all I’ve got to say.  He’s your’n to do the way you want to with.  I won’t have any finger in it.  It’s your job, it ain’t mine.”

“Well, I’ll do the croakin’ some other way.  You needn’t have anything to do about it if you’re afraid.  I’ll do it all by myself.”

“Afraid or no afraid I ain’t goin’ to be mixed up in any croakin’, and that ends it as far as I go.”

Hank knocked the ashes from his pipe, refilled it from the black plug, and lifting a red hot coal from the fire placed it upon the bowl, and puffed for a moment.  When the tobacco was glowing to his satisfaction, he flicked the coal back into the fire, and sat silently smoking.

Jamie, lying quiet, had listened to the conversation of the two men.  He was wide awake now.  He did not understand the significance of “croaking,” but the word had an ominous sound.  It referred to something the man called Bill wished to do to him and something to which the man called Hank objected.  He understood, however, the threat to throw him into the Bay.  The fellow Bill wished to do this while Hank was determined to prevent it.

Instinctively Jamie felt that Hank was only defending him in order to protect himself.  He had no personal interest in him, but did not propose to be involved in any trouble that might arise through some action that Bill wished to take.  He was glad when, finally, it appeared settled that he was not to be thrown into the sea.

Bill arose and replenished the fire, and following Hank’s example refilled and lighted his pipe, then reseated himself.

Neither of the men spoke.  Beyond their great hulking figures the fire gleamed and sent a circle of radiance.  Beyond the circle the forest lay as black as a tomb.  The snow fell steadily, and the wind sighed and moaned ominously through the tree tops.

What were Doctor Joe and the lads doing?  Were they searching for him through the blackness of the night and the storm?  If he had only followed Doctor Joe’s instructions and returned to camp in season!  Would these men kill him?  Would he ever see the dear old home at The Jug again?