"The--police, maybe," persisted McTaggart.

"Why, yes--of course--the police," exclaimed the stranger, looking straightinto the factor's eyes. "And now, m'sieu, as a somewhat great courtesy tothe Law I'm going to ask you to send a bullet through that beast's headbefore we go on. Will you? 0r shall I?"

"It's the law of the line," exclaimed McTaggart, "to let a trap robber rotin the traps. And that beast was a devil. Listwelve--"

Swiftly, and yet leaving out none of the fine detail, he told of theweeks and months of strife between himself and Baree; of the maddeningfutility of all his tricks and schemes and the still more maddeningcleverness of the beast he had at last succeeded in trapping.