And in going Bram had left a half of his blood-thirsty pack in the corral.  There was no longer a doubt in Philip’s mind.  They were not the chance guests of this madman.  They were prisoners.

CHAPTER XII

For a few minutes after the wolf-man and his hunters had gone from the corral Philip did not move from the window.  He almost forgot that the girl was standing behind him.  At no time since Pierre Breault had revealed the golden snare had the situation been more of an enigma to him than now.  Was Bram Johnson actually mad—­or was he playing a colossal sham?  The question had unleashed itself in his brain with a suddenness that had startled him.  Out of the past a voice came to him distinctly, and it said, “A madman never forgets!” It was the voice of a great alienist, a good friend of his, with whom he had discussed the sanity of a man whose crime had shocked the country.  He knew that the words were true.  Once possessed by an idea the madman will not forget it.  It becomes an obsession with him—­a part of his existence.  In his warped brain a suspicion never dies.  A fear will smolder everlastingly.  A hatred lives steadily on.

If Bram Johnson was mad would he play the game as he was playing it now!  He had almost killed Philip for possession of the food, that the girl might have the last crumb of it.  Now, without a sign of the madman’s caution, he had left it all within his reach again.  A dozen times the flaming suspicion in his eyes had been replaced by a calm and stupid indifference.  Was the suspicion real and the stupidity a clever dissimulation?  And if dissimulation—­ why?

He was positive now that Bram had not harmed the girl in the way he had dreaded.  Physical desire had played no part in the wolf-man’s possession of her.  Celie had made him understand that;—­and yet in Bram’s eyes he had caught a look now and then that was like the dumb worship of a beast.  Only once had that look been anything different—­and that was when Celie had given him a tress of her hair.  Even the suspicion roused in him then was gone now, for if passion and desire were smoldering in the wolf-man’s breast he would not have brought a possible rival to the cabin, nor would he have left them alone together.

His mind worked swiftly as he stared unseeing out into the corral.  He would no longer play the part of a pawn.  Thus far Bram had held the whip hand.  Now he would take it from him no matter what mysterious protestation the girl might make!  The wolf-man had given him a dozen opportunities to deliver the blow that would make him a prisoner.  He would not miss the next.

He faced Celie with the gleam of this determination in his eyes.  She had been watching him intently and he believed that she had guessed a part of his thoughts.  His first business was to take advantage of Brain’s absence to search the cabin.  He tried to make Celie understand what his intentions were as he began.