the half-bare rocks,
slowly puzzled out the trail for a time. Evidently the man they wanted
had made a practice of sleeping far back in the mountains. For a time
they almost despaired of discovering him, until at last Jesse, whose
eyes were always keen, pointed out what he thought were tracks leading
across a snow-bank a quarter of a mile ahead. Hastening thither, they
gained a half-mile more in their pursuit, but finally were obliged to
halt puzzled at a bare rim of rock, beyond which and below them lay a
wide expanse of rough country broken by canyons and covered by a dense
alder growth, the only timber of that region.

In that broken country hiding might have been offered for a regiment,
almost, it seemed. Rob suggested that it was perhaps as well to return
to camp and give up the search.

"Hold on a minute," said Jesse. "Look over there! I think I see
something."

He pointed ahead and below at some object a half-mile farther on.
Presently they all saw it--a figure visible against the snow which lay
along the edge of a sharp canyon wall. A moment later it was lost as it
moved into the cover of the alder thicket; but even as they hesitated
they saw arising a thin wreath of blue smoke, which proved to them that
the figure they had seen was a man, and no doubt the one for whom they
were looking.

Skookie looked serious, his brown face drawn into a frown of anxiety and
fear.

"Bad mans, bad mans!" he said, over and over again, shaking his head.

"Come on, fellows!" was Rob's comment, and he plunged on down the rock
face, hurrying to get his party out of sight as quickly as possible.
Once lower down, and near the elevation of the smoke at the canyon side,
concealment was much easier, and from this point they stalked the hidden
fugitive much as they would have done with a big-game animal had they
been pursuing it.

They paused at last at the rim of a shelving rock which projected out at
the top of the canyon wall. The smell of the smoke was strong in their
nostrils, and they knew that they were near the end of their hunt.
Somewhere below them, perhaps within a few yards or feet, the fugitive
must be lying; but, although they peered over cautiously, they could see
no one. As a matter of fact, a shallow cavern existed directly under
them in the side of the canyon wall, and it was at the mouth of this that
the Aleut had built his fire.

Seeing no sign of life, Rob proceeded to dispose his forces with the
purpose of