with
the others at his heels. Suddenly he stopped, and pointed at the
beaten snow and scattered bones and torn clothing, where Micmac John
had fought so desperately for his life. The three men stood horror
stricken, their faces drawn and tense. This, then, was the solution of
the mystery! This was what had happened to Bob! Pretty soon Dick
spoke:

"Th' poor lad! Th' poor lad! An' th' wolves got un!"

"An' his poor mother," said Ed, choking. "'Twill break her heart, she
were countin' so on Bob. An' th' little maid as is sick--'twill kill
she."

"Yes," said Bill, "Emily'll be mournin' herself t' death wi'out Bob."

These big, soft-hearted trappers were all crying now like women. No
other thought occurred to them than that these ghastly remains were
Bob's, for the toboggan and things on it were his.

After a while they tenderly gathered up the human remains and placed
them upon the toboggan. Then they picked up the gun and blood
spattered axe.

"Now here be another axe on th' flat sled," said Dick. "What were Bob
havin' two axes for?"

"'Tis strange," said Ed.

"He must ha' had one cached in here, an' were bringin' un back,"
suggested Bill, and this seemed a satisfactory explanation.

"I'll take some pieces o' th' clothes. His mother'll be wantin'
somethin' that he wore when it happened," said Dick, as he gathered
some of the larger fragments of cloth from the snow.

Then with bowed heads and heavy hearts they silently retraced their
steps to the tilt, hauling the toboggan after them.

At the tilt they halted to arrange their future course of action.

"Now," said Dick, "what's t' be done? 'Twill only give pain th' sooner
t' th' family t' go out an' tell un, an' 'twill do no good. I'm
thinkin' 'tis best t' take th' remains t' th' river tilt an' not go
out with un till we goes home wi' open water."

"No, I'm not thinkin' that way," dissented Ed. "Bob's mother 'll be
wantin' t' know right off. 'Tis not right t' keep it from she, an'
she'll never be forgivin' us if we're doin' it."

"They's trouble enough down there that they _knows_ of," argued Dick.
"They'll be thinkin' Bob safe 'an not expectin' he till th' open water
an' we don't tell un, an' between now an' then have so much less t'
worry un, and be so much happier 'an if they were knowin'. Folks lives
only so long anyways an' troubles they has an' don't know about is
troubles they don't have, or th' same as not havin' un, an' their
lives is that much