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That's why we leave to- morrow and go by way of the Katmai Pass." All that day the men busied themselves in preparation for the start. Balt was ferociously exultant, Emerson was boiling with impatience, while Fraser, whose calm nothing disturbed, slept most of the time, observing that this was his last good bed for a while, and therefore he wished to make it work.
Certain ones displayed fresh contusions on cheek and jaw, or peered forth from lately blackened eyes, and these, Boyd noticed, invariably fawned upon Big George or treated him with elephantine playfulness, winking swollen lids at him in a mysterious understanding which puzzled the young man, until he saw that Balt himself bore similar signs of strife.
Thus, while the busy dame bustled about the house, or plied her spinning-wheel at one end of the piazza, honest Balt would sit smoking his evening pipe at the other, watching the achievements of a little wooden warrior, who, armed with a sword in each hand, was most valiantly fighting the wind on the pinnacle of the barn.
She dropped all interest in him and turned to resume her journey. "Just a moment," Joe said. "You can't go in there, Miss " Her eyebrows went up again. "The name is Haer," she said. "Why can't I go in here, captain?" Now it came to him why he had thought he recognized her. She had basic features similar to those of that overbred poppycock, Balt Haer. "Sorry," Joe said.
Boyd knew that if he were brought into court he would have hard shift to clear himself against the mass of perjured testimony that his rival had doubtless gathered; but even this seemed as nothing in comparison with the main issue. For one wild instant he considered sending George Balt on with the ship.
It was but a momentary flash of inquiry, however, and then his gaze, passing quickly over Clyde and Fraser, settled upon Emerson. "Mr. Balt and I had a business misunderstanding," he said, smoothly, "which I hoped was forgotten. It didn't amount to much " At this Balt uttered a choking snarl and stepped forward, only to meet Boyd, who intercepted him. "Behave yourself!" he ordered.
Marsh and his companions rule this region just as the Hudson's Bay Company used to govern its concessions: by controlling the natives and preventing independent white men from gaining a foothold. "No man dares to furnish food to George Balt; no man dares to give him a bed, no cannery will let him work. He has to take a dory to Dutch Harbor to get food.
"If I thought she had done that," said Emerson, slowly, "I wouldn't touch a penny of the money." "I don't care where the money came from or how it got here," rumbled Balt. "It's here; that's enough." "I care, and I intend to find out." "Oh, come now, don't spoil a good piece of work," cautioned Clyde, visibly perturbed at Boyd's expression.
Emerson commanded, sharply, and in the glow from the binnacle-light they saw he had drawn his revolver, while on the instant up from the void beneath heaved the massive figure of Big George Balt, a behemoth, more colossal and threatening than ever in the dim light.
It was early in the afternoon when the Indian stopped and began testing the air; Balt also seemed suddenly to scent a change in the atmospheric conditions. "What's wrong now?" Emerson asked, gruffly. "Feels like wind," answered the big man, with a shake of his head. The native began to chatter excitedly, and as they stood there a chill draught fanned their cheeks.
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