He had discovered that Quade and Culver Rann, his partner at Tete Jaune, were forces to be reckoned with even by the "powers" along the line of rail.

They were the two chiefs of the "underground," the men who controlled the most dangerous element from Miette to Fort George.

He had once seen Culver Rann, a quiet, keen-eyed, immaculately groomed man of forty--the cleverest scoundrel that had ever drifted into the Canadian west.

He had been told that Rann was really the brain of the combination, and that the two had picked up a quarter of a million in various ways.

But it was Quade with whom he had to deal now, and he began to thank Stevens for his warning.