of the
river and several times during the morning moose and caribou were
seen in the distance. A few months before, when they had invaded the
wilderness to hunt and trap, this country would have aroused the
wildest enthusiasm among Rod and his friends, but now they gave but
little thought to their rifles. That morning they had set out with the
intention of reaching the second waterfall before dusk, and it was
with disappointment rather than gladness that they saw the swift
current of the chasm torrent change into the slower, steadier sweep of
a stream that had now widened into a fair-sized river. According
to the map the second fall was about fifty-five miles from the mad
hunter's camp. Darkness found them still fifteen miles from where it
should be.

Excitement kept Rod awake most of that night. Try as he would, he
could not keep visions of the lost treasure out of his mind. The next
day they would be far on their way to the third and last waterfall.
And then--the gold! That they might not find it, that the passing of
half a century or more might have obliterated all traces left by its
ancient discoverers, never for a moment disturbed his belief.

He was the first awake the following morning, the first to take his
place in the canoe. Every minute now his ears were keenly attuned for
that distant sound of falling water. But hours passed without a
sign of it. Noon came. They had traveled six hours and had covered
twenty-five miles instead of fifteen! Where was the waterfall?

There was a little more of anxiety in Wabigoon's eyes when they
resumed their journey after dinner. Again and again Rod looked at his
map, figuring out the distances as drawn by John Ball, the murdered
Englishman. Surely the second waterfall could not be far away now! And
still hour after hour passed, and mile after mile slipped behind them,
until the three knew that they had gone fully thirty miles beyond
where the cataract should have been, if the map was right. Twilight
was falling when they stopped for supper. For the last hour Mukoki
had spoken no word. A feeling of gloom was on them all; without
questioning, each knew what the fears of the others were.

Was it possible that, after all, they had not solved the secret of the
mysterious map?

The more Rod thought of it the more his fears possessed him. The
two men who fought and died in the old cabin were on their way to
civilization. They were taking gold with them, gold which they meant