ted two white men passed
with a painted canoe and much provisions. Then, while they still
waited, the white men returned with the canoe empty.

"They fired their guns at the white men. Then the evil spirits that
dwell where the river falls reached up for the canoe and dragged it
down to the place of thunder.

"I have come to tell you this, and to ask if White Brother of the Snow
and his friend are here. All night and all day have I travelled, for I
am afraid for White Brother of the Snow. He has lived in the lodge of
Sishetakushin, my father. He is one of my people, and I am afraid for
him."

Her rapid speech, her dramatic pose and gestures, and her intensely
earnest manner left no doubt in Dick Blake's mind that she spoke the
truth. Neither had he any doubt that she referred to Ungava Bob and
Shad Trowbridge as the two white men, for no other white men were in
the region, or, he was sure, within several hundred miles of the
place, at the time to which she referred.

"No," said he, after a moment's pause, "White Brother of the Snow and
his friend are not with us."

"They are not here!" she wailed, lifting her arms in a gesture of
despair. "Where is he? Tell me! It was not White Brother of the Snow
sent to the torment of evil spirits?"

"I'm afraid, Manikawan, it was. There were no other white men here
than White Brother of the Snow and his friend."

Manikawan's hands dropped at her side, and for an instant she stood, a
picture of mingled horror and grief. But it was for only an instant.
Then her face grew hard and vengeful, and in low, even tones she said:

"These men of the South killed White Brother of the Snow. They are no
longer of my people. They must die."

"They must die," echoed Dick.

"Come!" she said laconically, reaching for her bow and slinging it on
her back.

"No, we will rest to-night, and to-morrow at dawn we will go. Rest
to-night and be strong for the chase to-morrow," Dick counselled,
kindly, as she turned toward the portage trail leading around the
rapids.

"I cannot rest," she answered. "I go now;" and like a shadow, and as
silently, she melted into the darkening forest.

Big Dick Blake's heart was full of vengeance, as he strode down the
trail to rejoin his companions.

"What speech were th' Injun maid tryin' t' get rid of, now?" asked Ed
Matheson, pausing in his work of unloading the canoe as Dick appeared.

"Bob an' Shad's dead!" announced Dick bluntly.

"Dead! Dead!" echoed