of Garnier, Parwin, and Wrath, the first a hunted
criminal, the second an officer of justice--the criminal had escaped
and the officer was dead. Presumably both pursued and pursuer had
arrived at Murder Point, for the body of Strangeways, the follower,
had been found a mile down-river below the Point. Then where was
Spurling? And how had he managed to escape, if he had not been helped?
Who could have helped him save Granger? And why was Strangeways dead?

These were some of the many questions which avenging justice would be
sure to ask, and, however skilfully they might be answered, the priest
knew well that it would be difficult to prevent suspicion from
attaching to a hated independent trader, especially when it became
known that he had once been the fugitive's friend. Why, he himself had
suspected Granger at first!

His present purpose was, if possible, to gather such proofs from the
dead man's clothing as would exclude the doubt of foul play, and
establish as a fact Granger's assertion that the corporal had arrived
at his death by the accident of drowning.

In the meanwhile, he was not meeting with much success in his search,
for the right arm of the dead man was pressed so rigidly across his
breast that it could not be moved without breaking; the hand was
concealed and the fingers tangled in the folds of his dress, as if
even in the last moments of life he had been conscious that he kept a
secret hidden there. Only with violence could it be forced aside, and
to this the priest was averse; he commenced to cut away the clothing,
above downwards from the neck, below upwards from the belt. The cloth
ripped easily, having become rotten with the wet, but the trimmings of
fur were tough and obstinate to separate. When he had slit the capote
and under-garments above and below the arm in two big flaps, he rolled
them back, laying bare the breast, where he discovered a silver chain
which went about the neck, the pendant to which, wrapped in the
portion of the dress that had covered it, was clutched in the icy
hand. He now cut away the stuff from around the hand, and, with a
severity which seemed both profane and cruel, bent back the fingers
one by one, compelling them to release their hold, so that the bones
were heard to crack.

"What are you doing?" cried Granger, angrily, being roused by the
sound from an unsatisfactory examination of the mixed feelings which
had arisen within him on discovering that Spurling, whom h