made to them by the Northwest Company.

We were gone a fortnight, and covered some hundreds of miles. Meanwhile
the winter had set in, and we returned on snowshoes. The weather was
bitterly cold, the streams and lakes were frozen, and the snow lay two
feet deep. Away from the fort I had been in better spirits. When I
entered the stockade again, and realized that I was near Flora my heart
began to ache as before.

I was soon informed of what had taken place during my absence. Gummidge
and his wife had departed for Fort Garry a week previously. Moralle was
out of danger, and was mending slowly. The messenger was back from Fort
York, bringing news that Captain Rudstone had not yet returned there--as
was his intention before coming south--and that matters were quiet.
Moreover the priest had not yet arrived at Fort Royal, and there had
been no marriage. Flora was still single, and likely to remain so for a
time.

A week slipped by rapidly. The winter raged in all its severity, and
there was a steady influx of Indians laden with furs and pelts. I had
much to do, and was kept busy. I did not return to the factor's house,
as I might have done, but stuck to my new quarters. I saw Flora
occasionally, but at a distance. By mutual consent we seemed to avoid
each other.

Then a memorable day dawned--a day fraught with a series of events that
stamped themselves indelibly on my memory.

CHAPTER XVII.

A STRANGE WARNING.

I had been up late the night before, going over some tedious accounts
with the clerks, and it was by no means an early hour when I opened my
eyes and tumbled out of bed. It was a clear morning, but bitterly cold.
I hurriedly drew on my thick clothing, and was about to leave the room,
when I caught sight of an object sticking under the bottom crevice of
the door which opened on the fort yard.

I picked it up, and looked at it with interest and curiosity, not
unmixed with a vague alarm. What I held in my hand was a flat strip of
birch bark about six inches square, containing some rudely-painted
scrawls, which I at first took to be hieroglyphics, but which quickly
resolved themselves into the uncouth figures of two men. The one was
clearly a white man, wearing on his head what was evidently intended to
represent the odd-shaped cap of the Northwest Company. The other was an
Indian in leggings, blanket and feathers.

Here was a puzzle, indeed, and