k.

"There's a rock! There's a big rock!" shouted David, as the rock
where Jamie had begun his search for the cache loomed high through the
snow.

Every one ran to the rock, and as they gathered by its side, Andy
exclaimed:

"I knows now what Jamie does! He were near enough to see the rock! He
were the last one beyond Seth, and he finds un and he goes huntin' the
cache by himself, and it gets dark and he gets lost when the snow
comes!"

"That sounds reasonable," admitted Doctor Joe. "I shouldn't be the
least surprised if you were right! It's more than probable that's just
what happened! The thing now is to find the direction Jamie probably
took from here, and the snow has covered all trace of him."

"With his trail all covered, there'll be no trackin' he. What'll we do
about un?" asked David. "'Tis hard to think out what way Jamie'd be
like to go from here."

"Let's try goin' the way the paper said the cache was," suggested
Andy. "Maybe Jamie finds un in the tree and climbs the tree and falls
and hurts himself."

"Andy is right," agreed Doctor Joe. "It is quite likely he used his
copy of the directions to find the cache, and that he went in the
direction specified. We'll do the same."

It did not take them long to find the hackmatack tree, and in doing so
they stumbled upon the pile of rocks Jamie had built up for a compass
rest. It was covered with snow, but was high enough to be discernible,
and a careful clearing of the snow discovered the fact that the stones
had been recently piled.

"They may have been piled by the man who made the cache," suggested
Doctor Joe.

"He'd never been doin' that!" objected David. "'Twould make the tree
too easy to find. I'm thinkin' 'twere Jamie piles un."

"What would Jamie be pilin' the stones for now?" asked Lige
sceptically. "He'd not be takin' time to go pilin' up stones that
way."

"He piles un to pilot us when we comes huntin' he," suggested David.

They took the next direction, and in due time discovered the round
rock, the top of which they likewise cleared of snow that they might
make quite certain it was the rock for which they were searching.
Then, in due time, Jamie's second pile of rocks and finally the birch
tree were located.

At the birch tree all clues were lost. Vainly they circled the
surrounding country, firing rifles occasionally until they came to the
edge of the marsh.

"We'd never be findin' he on the mesh, if he gets out there,"
suggested