our fish was nearly done, six of us went to look for
the deer."

"Six of you?" said Lane. "Where are the rest? These tepees would hold
a good many people."

"They are hunting farther North," answered the man. "When we got to
the place the white man told us of we could see no caribou tracks. As
he was a good hunter, we thought this strange, but we went on, because
there was another muskeg like the one he spoke of and we might not have
understood him. Then the snow came and we camped until it was over and
afterwards came back, finding no deer. When we reached the tepees, he
had gone and we do not know what has become of him. We could not
follow because the snow had covered his trail."

"He is dead," Lane told them. "I found him frozen some days ago."

Their surprise was obviously genuine and Lane was quick to notice signs
of regret. He imagined that Clarke had been a person of some
importance among them.

"Tell them I don't want them any more," he said to Emile, and when the
Indians went out turned to Benson. "You had better give me all the
information you are able about the man."

Benson told him as much as he thought judicious, after which Lane sat
silent for a time. Then he said, "There is no reason to doubt that he
came to his death by misadventure. I don't quite understand what led
him to visit these fellows, but after all that doesn't count."

"It isn't very plain," Benson agreed. "Is there anything else you wish
to know?"

"No," said Lane, looking at him steadily. "You can take it that this
inquiry is closed; we'll pull out first thing to-morrow." He beckoned
Walthew. "Now we're here, we may as well find out what we can about
these fellows and how they live. It will fill up our report, and they
like that kind of information at Regina."

When the police had left the tepee Harding turned to his companions
with a smile. "Sergeant Lane is a painstaking officer, but his
shrewdness has its limits, and there are points he seems to have
missed. It would have been wiser not to have let Clarke's coat out of
his hands until he had searched it."

"Ah!" said Blake sharply. "You emptied the pockets?"

"I did; I allow my action was hardly justifiable, but I thought it
better that the police shouldn't get on the track of matters that
haven't much bearing on Clarke's death. I found two things and they're
both of interest to us. We'll take this one first."

He drew out a metal flask and when he