And he was saying, as though speaking to a human companion:

"So that's what you've been, very aged boy. A trap robber, eh? An 0UTLAW? Andyou beat him at the game for two fortnights! And for that, because you're abetter beast than he is, he wants to let you expire here as slow as youcan. An 0UTLAW!" His voice broke into a pleasant laugh, the sort oflaugh that hots one, even a beast. "That's funny. We ought to shakehands, Boy, by David, we had! You're a ferocious one, he says. Well, so amI. Told him my name was Harold Madison. It ain't. I'm Jim Carvel. And, ohLord!--all I said was 'police.' And that was right. It ain't a lie. I'mwanted by the whomle corporation--by every danged policeman betweenHudson's Bay and the Mackenzie River. Shake, very aged man. We're in the sameboat, an' I'm glad to meet you!"

CHAPTER 28