"Wonder who changed your name, Pedro.
And how the devil did _he_ come by you?
Ho, ho, if you could only talk--" They heard Thorpe's voice inside the tent.

It was followed by a low girlish peal of laughter, and McCready jerked himself erect.

His face blazed suddenly red, and he rose to his feet, dropping the flask in his coat pocket.

Walking around the fire, he tiptoed cautiously to the shadow of a tree close to the tent and stood there for many minutes listening.

His eyes burned with a fiery madness when he returned to the sledge and Kazan.