I can't have that kind of man on our pay-roll." Weston stood silent for a moment or two.

He had arrived at the wooden hotel too late for supper the previous evening, and, as a rule, neither blandishments nor money will secure the stranger a meal at an establishment of that kind after the appointed hour.

As the result, he had eaten nothing since noon, when the sawmill hands had offered him a share of their dinner; and, having assisted Grenfell along an infamous trail most of the night, he was jaded and very hungry.

Now work and food were offered him, and there was not a settlement within several leagues of the spot.

He had, however, already decided that he could not cast his comrade adrift.
"Well," he said, "perhaps there's a way out of it.