For in some mysterious manner rumor of the
girl had got abroad, passing from lip to lip, until even the children
knew that there was some other thing than gold that would play a part in
the fight between Clarry O'Grady and Jan Larose. On the surface it was
not scheduled to be a fight with fists or guns. But in Porcupine City
there were a few who knew the "inner story"--the story of the girl, as
well as the gold, and those among them who feared the law would have
arbitrated in a different manner for the two men if it had been in their
power. But law is law, and the code was the code. There was no
alternative. It was an unusual situation, and yet apparently simple of
solution. Eighty miles north, as the canoe was driven, young Jan Larose
had one day staked out a rich "find" at the headwaters of Pelican Creek.
The same day, but later, Clarry O'Grady had driven his stakes beside
Jan's. It had been a race to the mining recorder's office, and they had
come in neck and neck. Popular sentiment favored Larose, the slim, quiet,
dark-eyed half Frenchman. But there was the law, which had no sentiment.
The recorder had sent an agent north to investigate. If there were two
sets of stakes there could be but one verdict. Both claims would be
thrown out, and then--
All knew what would happen, or thought that they knew. It would be a
magnificent race to see who could set out fresh stakes and return to the
recorder's office ahead of the other.
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