"
Murchison seemed satisfied, and after showing his new clerk to his bed,
he returned to the stove and knocked the ash from his pipe. "John is
canny," he grinned. "As canny in the handlin' of women, as of men.
He'll have the son-in-law he wants, an' careful he'll be that he's the
man of the lass's own choosin'."
XIV
On the day after the big storm old Missinabbee returned to the
southward, and the following day Wentworth arrived at the post, cursing
his guide, and the storm, and the snow that lay deep in the forest.
The half-breed refused to stop over and rest, but accepted his pay and
turned his dogs on the back-trail. And as Murchison accepted McNabb's
letter of introduction from Wentworth's hand in the door of the post
trading room, his eyes followed the retreating form of the guide. For
he had caught a malevolent gleam of hate that flashed from the narrowed
black eyes as the man had accepted his pay.
"Ye have not seen the last of yon," he said, turning to Wentworth with
a nod of his head toward the breed. "Alex Thumb is counted a bad man
in the North. I would not rest so easy, an' he was camped on my trail."
Wentworth scowled. "Worthless devil! Kicked on my bringing my trunk.
Wanted me to transfer my stuff into duffle bags and carry a pack to
ease up on his dogs; and then to top it off with, he wasn't going to
let me ride on the sled.
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