in the voice of the boy as he asked: "Was a woman with you?" But
Pierre heard only the tone and not the words. His face was gray when
he looked up again, and his voice hard.

"Tell me as briefly as you can how I come here, and who picked me up."

"My father and his men. They passed you lying on the snow. They
brought you home."

"Who is your father?"

The boy stiffened and his color rose.

"My father is Jim Boone."

Instinctively, while he stared, the right hand of Pierre le Rouge
crept toward his hip.

"Keep your hand steady," said the boy. "I got a nervous
trigger-finger. Yeh, dad is pretty well known."

"You're his son?"

"I'm Jack Boone."

"But I've heard--tell me, why am I under guard?"

Jack was instantly aflame with the old anger.

"Not because I want you here."