ith Hawke replied,
not unkindly. "I want you here. There will be trouble in the North
before many days."

"I am very anxious to go," I persisted doggedly.

"I can't spare you," he said sharply. "Let that end the discussion for
the present. In the spring if you are of the same mind--"

"I will wait until then," I broke in.

I saw that all was against me, and that there was nothing to do but make
the best of it.

"I can hardly believe," continued the factor, "that Cuthbert Mackenzie
would have undertaken so desperate an affair, or that the Indians would
have taken service under him, unless both he and they knew that they had
the Northwest Company back of them. I am of the opinion that the
redskins have been bought over--that hostilities are about to begin.
What do you think?"

"I am inclined to agree with you," I replied.

"My duty is plain," said Griffith Hawke. "I have already despatched a
full report of the matter by messenger to Fort York. To-morrow I shall
send a dozen men out to scour the country to the east, west and south.
They are not likely to find Mackenzie--he is doubtless safe in one of
the Northwest Company's posts by this time--but they may run across some
of Gray Moose's braves, and ascertain from them what is brewing."

"I hope they may," said I.

"There is a chance of it," replied the factor. "Will you take charge of
the expedition, Denzil?"

I had been waiting craftily for this offer, which meant a prolonged
absence from the fort. Nothing could have suited me better--short of
transference to another post--and I accepted without hesitation. We
talked the matter over together until it was time to turn in for the
night.

I was off two hours after sunrise the next day, in command of twelve of
our best men. I did not see Flora before I started, nor did I wish to.
And I fervently hoped, as we plunged into the forest and lost sight of
the fort that the priest would have arrived and the marriage be over
before I returned.

I do not intend to write at length of the expedition, and indeed but
little could be said of it. We scoured the wilderness in three
directions, but we found no trace of Cuthbert Mackenzie or of his hired
band of savages. They had melted away mysteriously, and the empty
fastnesses of the Great Lone Land told us nothing of what we sought to
learn. The Indians of those parts we met in abundance, but they were
peacefully engaged in trapping, and denied that any overtures had been