And then I was struck on the head, and when I came to my senses I was in the light of the campfire, and the man I had come to kill was over me.

One of the other men was Thoreau, the Free Trader.

He had told who I was.

It was useless to lie.

I told the truth--that I had come to kill him, and why.
And then--in the light of that campfire, M'sieur--he proved to me what it would have meant if I had succeeded.