e will come again to our lodge, and the maiden will
be joyful."

Shad was unable to understand a word of this, but Bob's face told him
plainly that something not altogether pleasant to the lad had been
said.

"I cannot go now," said Bob, speaking in the Indian tongue. "We must
build our lodges and lay our trails. Winter will soon be upon us and
we must have the lodges built before the Frost Spirit freezes the
earth."

"Sishetakushin's lodge is always open to White Brother of the Snow. It
is pitched upon the shores of the Great Lake, two-days' journey to
the northward. The trail is plain. It lies through two lakes and along
water running to the Great Lake. The maiden is waiting for White
Brother of the Snow. He was made one of our people. He is welcome."

[Footnote: Lake Michikamau, the Great Lake of the Indians, situated on
the Labrador plateau.]

The Indians had risen to go, and Bob presented them with a package of
tea, as a parting gift, which they accepted.

"White Brother of the Snow will come to our lodge soon and bring with
him his friend," said Sishetakushin, in accepting the tea, and he and
Mookoomahn, like shadows, disappeared into the forest.

"Injuns be queer folk, but they were good friends t' me when I were
needin' friends," said Bob, when the Indians were gone.

VII

WHERE THE EVIL SPIRITS DWELL

From the river tilt, as they called it, where their camp was pitched,
the Big Hill trail led to the northwest for fifteen miles, then
fifteen miles to the westward, where it took a sharp turn to the
northward, in which direction it continued for nearly thirty miles,
then again swung to the westward for fifteen miles, where it
terminated on the shores of a small lake. This was the trail
previously hunted by Bob.

Douglas Campbell had visited the Big Hill trail the preceding winter,
but had not remained to hunt, and it had therefore been unoccupied
during the winter. For the season at hand it had been transferred to
Dick Blake, while Dick's own trail, farther down the river, was to
remain untenanted, and the animals given an opportunity to increase.
Directly below the Big Hill trail and adjoining it was Bill Campbell's
trail.

Bob had been informed by Mountaineer Indians who camped during a
portion of each summer near the Eskimo Bay post, that by following a
stream flowing into the river a short distance above the river tilt of
the Big Hill trail, and taking a west-northwesterly direction, he
w