The Gold Hunters / A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds

e tried to control himself, to fortify himsel

ted Wabi. "We have cold meat and

ut from among the trees. Wabi made a movement as if to follow,

ter-alone,

e was his first guide, and he hurried toward it while Mukoki and Wabigoon followed far behind him with the dogs and the sledge. He was breathless when he reached the top. Eagerly he gazed into the North. It was in that direction he had gone on the afternoon of his discovery of the strange

his eyes, Minnetaki's fate was in his hands-and he had failed. He dreaded to tell his companions, to let them see his fac

o it from the ridge and had found it to be a sheet of crystal ice frozen to the side of a rock from above which the water of a spring gushed forth. Without waiting for his companions he hurried down the ridge and sped like a deer across the narrow plain at its foot. A five-minute run brought him to the rock, and for a moment he paused, his h

ut to his comrades. There was the log on which Minnetaki had been forced to sit while awaiting the pleasure of her savage captors; he found the very spot where her footprint had been in the snow, cl

signs as Mukoki and

t of the snow the old pathfinder examined every inch of the little clearing in which the Woongas had

n the snow he had discovered something o

uky?" asked th

on his hands and knees and repeated his strange scrutiny of the snow even more closely

imed. "Two guides fr

er told us that there

attacking par

for a moment his face twisted

"He run when fight begin. S

the cold depth

re! Follow

o save Minnetaki. And he knew what it meant. Cautiously they penetrated the forest, their eyes and ears alert, and, as Mukoki had predicted, the trail of the retreating savages was quite distinct. They had taken both of the captured sledges, and Rod knew that on one of these Minnet

led the team around the body. "

At the end of that hour the three came upon the remains of another camp-fire near which were built two cedar-bough shelters. Here the tracks in the snow were much fresher; in places they seemed to have been but lately made. Still there were no evidences of the captured girl. The boys could see that Mukoki himself had found no explanation for the sudden freshness of the trail and for t

heir flight? Why this delay so near the scene of their crime? He glanced at Wabi, but the Indian youth wa

re. He had buried his hand deep among them, and

'clock,

clared the old Indian slowly

did i

angerously hurt that her capt

hisper of a word between them. The mystery was beyond them all. But one thing they realized, whatever had happened they were close upon the hee

ail di

themselves into two parties. The trail of one sledge led

netaki? They looked at on

to the trail in

gn of Minnetaki. You

glistening full in the sun, there fluttered a long, silken strand of hair. He reached out for it, but Wabi caught his hand, and in another moment Mukoki had joined them. Gently he took the raven tress between his fingers, his deep-set eyes glaring like red coals of

is vocabulary a long-drawn, hissing sound which he used only in those mom

i on othe

of the strand to h

out by, twig. Woonga hang he

to the pursuers that Wabi's sister was taking advantage of her opportunities to leave these signs behind for those whom she knew would make an attempt at her rescue. And yet, as they left farther and farther behind them the trail which ran into the northeast, an inexplicable feeling of uneasiness began to steal over Rod. What if Mukoki had made a mistake? His confidence in the old warrior's

uld hold hims

ion. "I'm going back and follow the other trail. If I don't find anyt

they had found the silken tress of hair? What something was it, away down in his soul, that kept urging him on and on, even after he had gone a mile, and then two miles, in fruitless search? Rod could not have answered these questions had

e had dreamed of the skeletons. He was thinking of this when he came around the end of a huge rock which lay as big as a house in his path. Upon the snow, almost at his feet, was a sight that froze the blood in his veins. For the second time that day he gazed upon the distorted features of a dead man. Squarely across the trail, as the other had lain, was the body of an India

d kill

d herself by takin

wifter than before, he followed the trail of the sledge, his rifle held in readiness for a shot at any moment. The path became wilder and in places it seemed almost inaccessible. But between the tumbled mass of rock the sledge had foun

softening snow were the

and he was making a short excursion from his den. From where the bear had crossed

he distant forest. At the foot of the ridge the great trunk of a fallen tree lay in his path, and as he went to climb over it he stopped, a cry of amazement stifling itself

The four fingers and thumb of the hand had left their impressions with startling clearness. The fingers wer

d when he raised his head he knew that he was trembling in spite of his efforts to control himself. Turning about he swiftly followed the trail to the top of the ridge, recrossed the sledge track, and descended again into the wildness

ar trail h

he tracks of a beast, there co