Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/297

Rh yourn as it is any one else's an' they hain't no one got no right to tell us when we kin kill it or how many we kin kill, nohow. Buck up, now, an' git to work on that there other cow—an' when the meat business plays out I got another little scheme up my sleeve."

Shorty set to work upon the carcass of the dead moose. "When the meat business plays out I'm through," he retorted sharply. "I ain't no crook an' I'm goin' outside an' live decent. I won't go in on no other scheme."

Once more Brek Wiley laughed. "Won't ye? We'll see when the time comes. Guess I'm the boss o' this outfit. Ye'll do as I say. Fat chanst ye've got o' gittin' outer the Yukon if I slip the word to the Mounted."

A half-hour later their task was finished, and the two men turned their attention to the sled. With Wiley in the trace ropes and Shorty pushing behind, the heavily loaded sled was worked over the hard crust to a point scarcely a quarter of a mile away where it was halted before the cleverly concealed door of a dug-out. Connie managed to follow, keeping well within the shelter of boulders and scrub timber, and from the vantage point