under my arm, and as we followed Macdonald and Burley
upstairs I told her in a few hurried words what we had discovered.

"It is not much," she replied. "And what good can the trunk do Mr.
Burley unless he can open it?"

"I'm afraid the factor won't permit that," said I. "He could do it only
with a legal order of some sort."

By this time Macdonald had led us through two empty rooms on the upper
floor, and now he stopped at the door of a third.

"This is the place," he said fitting a key in the lock.

An instant later the door swung open, revealing darkness within, and
letting a musty, ancient odor escape. Christopher Burley stumbled over
the threshold, and the rest of us followed him.

"This is worse than the underground passage at Fort Royal," said Flora.
"The room needs airing badly. Are you going to give us any light, Mr.
Macdonald?"

"At once," the factor replied.

He groped his way into the darkness, fumbled a moment at a closed
window, and flung the shutters wide open. The cold wintry air blew in
our faces, and the rays of the sinking sun brightened every nook and
corner. It was a good-sized room, and on three sides of it--except where
a space was left for the window--trunks and boxes were neatly stacked to
the ceiling. Dust and cobwebs lent a disreputable and ruinous effect to
them.

"All unclaimed," Macdonald said significantly, "and none of recent
date."

For a moment the four of us stood in silence, as though under the
influence of a strange spell. It was indeed an impressive and a
thoughtful sight, this array of boxes and trunks, chests and cases, of
all sizes and all kinds. Could these mute witnesses only have spoken! As
we stared at them we wondered what had been the fate of their owners--of
the daring men, young and old, who had gone forth years ago into the
untrodden wilderness and never been heard of since.

"Where is his trunk?" demanded Christopher Burley, breaking the spell.
"Show it to me! I don't believe it is here!"

"We shall find it presently, I assure you," the factor answered.

With that we fell to searching, two of us at one side of the room and
two at the other. Its proper number was painted in white on each box or
trunk, but as the numbers were not in order, and some of them were
partly obscured by dust, we were not successful at once. When we came to
the stack at the end of the room, however, Flora's sharp eyes quickly
discovered what we were seeking.

"There it is!" she