lwell, however, was generally
occupied, and when he had made a rough survey of the claims they started
south. The loads were light now and he forced the pace because he was
anxious, and felt responsible. There was another prospecting party, with
an unscrupulous leader, not far off, and one's title to a mineral claim
is open to dispute until the record is filed. Although Agatha's
prosperity would be his loss, he meant to run no risk. He was her
manager and must justify her trust.

When they reached the lake he found there would be some delay. They had
covered the canoes with branches, but the pine-needles had withered off
and the hot sun had opened the seams. Some of the thin planks were badly
split, one had sprung away from its fastenings, and it would take a few
days to repair the damage without proper tools. The caulking composition
he had brought would not go round, and he had to send the _Metis_ into
the bush to look for gum to make the Indian pitch. Then it cost him a
day's hard labor to rough out new plans with an ax and saw, and he
afterwards found he must make a steaming-box to soften the wood so that
it would bend into place.

On the second night he was tired and disturbed, but his sleep was light
and he wakened shortly before daybreak. It was not dark; he could see
the trunks behind the camp and Agatha's white tent. The ripples broke
upon the beach with a gentle splash, and there was a faint sighing in
the pine-tops. Except for all this all was very quiet, and he wondered
whether he had heard a canoe paddle in his dreams. Then, not far off, a
stone rattled as if it had been trodden on.

Thirlwell got up quietly and glanced about the camp. The men were
asleep. He counted their indistinct figures, wrapped in blankets; nobody
was missing. Still somebody had disturbed a loose stone and he moved
cautiously into the gloom. One could not creep up to an Indian, but
Thirlwell imagined there were none about, and if an Indian had meant to
steal something, he would not have crossed the slanting bank strewn with
large gravel, from which the noise had come. Thirlwell, himself, would
not have done so, for he had learned to be silent, when hunting in the
bush. He suspected a clumsy white man, from the cities. When he got
near the bank he stopped behind a tree. There was a narrow opening, but
he saw nobody and heard nothing except the wind in the pine-tops.

He tried to creep round the opening, but fell among a clump of
wi