"I suppose you are wondering how I came to be in that fix," Mr. Lakewood said as, a little later, they started to eat.
"We sure are," Bob assured him. "But you'd better wait till you get a bit of your strength back before you tell us about it."
"This food is putting strength into me at the rate of a mile a minute," he laughed, "and I'm plenty strong enough to talk. Besides I'll cut it short."
"And we'll be glad to hear about it," Bob assured him.
"Well, you probably know all about why I started up this way so I won't go into that. Oh yes, I was warned as to what kind of a man Long is, but somehow I was drawn to him and didn't believe half that was said against him. But now I know it was all true and more. He's a rascal if ever there was one. Everything went all right for several weeks except that we didn't find any gold. That didn't worry me particularly as I came up here more from a love of adventure than for the sake of the gold. You see, I've got more money now than I know how to spend, not that I mean to brag about it, you understand, but I've always loved to hunt for gold and other things. But our failure to find any gold seemed to be gradually changing Long's nature. He became morose and actually abusive at times.
"I stood it for some time and then one day told him what I thought of his actions and that, unless he cut it out, we'd part company. Well, he seemed to go almost crazy and, to make a long story short, he finally blamed me for bringing him up here and swore that I must sign over to him my interest in a very valuable gold mine in Colorado. Of course I refused and he knocked me down with his fist when my back was turned. I struck my back somehow in falling and have been nearly helpless ever since although it's been getting better all the time and is nearly well now."
"But what's his connection with those breeds?" Bob asked as he paused. "I suppose they're trappers."
"Yes, they're trappers and mighty good ones, judging from the stack of pelts they've taken so far this year. But, as to Long's connection with them, I only know that he has some sort of hold on them and that, strange as it may seem, they're scared to death of him. We stayed in that cabin you probably saw about half way between here and Arctic City for several weeks and then he brought me up here. I don't know why. We had been there about two weeks and the breeds were kind enough to me when he wasn't around, but he tried in every way he could to force me to sign that paper. Why he even beat me with a whip. Finally he declared that I'd not get another mouthful of food till I signed it. That was five days ago."
"And you've been tied up since then?"
"Every minute."