FUR FACTS 275 



sex and the few I had met were not particularly appealing to me. 

 But now, as I looked upon the sylph-like loveliness of the girl before 

 me, I was possessed of a strange feeling of an indescribable "some- 

 thing" which welled up within me and made me wish that my wounds 

 were more serious. Then it occurred to me that I could practice a 

 little deception, so instead of answering her, I merely opened and 

 closed my eyes again, grimacing as if in great pain. With the grace- 

 fulness and sprightliness of a fairy, she flew to the rear of the cabin 

 and brought a damp cloth which she placed on my head, also a bottle 

 for me to inhale. I inhaled deeply, and presently felt greatly 

 "revived." I opened my eyes and smiled as gratefully as I knew 

 how, and was overjoyed when she returned the smile, asking me 

 again as she did so, if I was badly hurt. 



"No, not much," I said, "only that my head feels rather queer." 



"I'm sorry," she continued "that father isn't here to help you 

 up, but if you think it safe to try, perhaps I can help you into the 

 house." Nothing could be fairer than that, so I told her I was quite 

 sure we could make it. We did. She led the way to a couch, but 

 I told her I felt much better and if she didn't mind I was going to 

 sit up. 



"Very well, then, you can sit right down here at the table. I'll 

 soon have supper ready. Now I must see how mother is. She is 

 very sick and I'm afraid she will have pneumonia." 



She disappeared into the adjoining room, while I removed my 

 coat and deposited my knapsack near the fire-place. As I did so, 

 my attention was arrested by the familiar appearance of a gun re- 

 clining on the mantle-piece. Surely, I had seen that gun before, I 

 thought. It was an exact duplicate of the fire-arm that Jack Haley 

 carried when we started on our hunting trip the gun that was 

 stolen from the cabin on the morning we were running our trap line. 

 But Jack's gun, I remembered, had his initials cut on one side of the 

 stock. Taking the gun in my hands I examined the stock very care- 

 fully, and while no initials were to be found, I noticed that the spot 

 where Jack's initials were carved was slightly hollowed, and it 

 occurred to me that they had been shaved off and the surface smooth- 

 ed down with sand-paper, followed by a coating of varnish. 



Here I was interrupted by the re-appearance of the girl who 

 reported, smilingly, that her mother was resting well. 



"This is a nice gun your father has," I said, trying to appear 

 natural. 



