"No need of it! I don't understand. They have done enough harm here. If they don't go, the Crees will do something——"
"The Crees have done something," interrupted McCain.
"You don't mean——" queried the priest, light slowly dawning upon him.
"Yes, just that. They overpowered and bound the guard, last night, and—well, they made a good job of it!"
"Killed the prisoners?" the priest slowly shook his head.
McCain nodded. "We found them both knifed in the heart. On the old man was a piece of birch-bark, with the words: 'This work done by friends of Jean Marcel.'"
The priest raised his hands. "It would have been better to send them south. Still, they were evil men, and deserved their fate. Tell nothing of it to Julie. She has taken this thing very hard."