eded in
drawing him from the water. The rest of the day was spent in drying
Clen's clothing beside a miserable fire of brushwood, and the next day
they made Fort McLeod, more dead than alive."

"Lord" Clendenning had dismounted, deposited his precious basket of
eggs upon the ground, and stood in the doorway as Bethune concluded
his narrative. When the man ceased speaking the Englishman shook his
head sadly. "Yes, yes, it seemed to me then, as I clung to the edge of
the bloomin' ice, freezin' from my feet up, that my only chance was in
bein' rid of the pack. But, I've thought since that maybe if I'd held
on just a few minutes longer, the bloody Injun would have got there in
time to save both me an' the pack to boot."

"There you go again!" exclaimed Bethune, with a trace of impatience in
his voice. "How many times have I told you to quit this
self-accusation. A man who covered fifty miles on horseback, seven
hundred on the train, and then nearly a hundred a-foot, under
conditions such as you faced, has nothing to be ashamed of in the
failure of his mission. It is your loss as well as mine, for you also
were to have profited by the strike. It is possible, however, that all
will be well--that Miss Sinclair has her father's original map, and a
duplicate of the photograph, or better yet, the film from which the
print was made."

Pausing he glanced at the girl significantly, but she was gazing past
him--past Clendenning, her eyes upon the giant up-sweep of the hills.
He hurried on, "So now you have the whole story. I had not meant to
speak of it, to-day. Really, we must be going. If I can be of service
to you in any way, Miss Sinclair, I am yours to command. We will drop
in again, after you have had time to get used to your surroundings,
and lay our plans for the rediscovery of the mother lode." Smiling he
pointed to the canvas bag upon the floor. "Your father's pack sack,"
he said. "I should know it in a thousand. He devised it himself. It is
a clever combination of the virtues of several of the standard packs,
and an elimination of the evils of all." He stooped closer. "What's
this? You should not have cut it! Couldn't you find the key? If not,
it would have been a simple matter to file a link of the chain, and
leave the sack undamaged." He laughed, shortly. "But, that, I suppose,
is a woman's way."

"I did not cut it. It was cut before it came here. My father left it
in Mr. Watts's care and he stored it in the barn. L