oubt in a few
days you will get track of her. But as I said just now, she must be
found, at all costs she must be found!"

"Yes, Sir James! I shall spare no effort to that end, and I may say
that, if possible, I am even more anxious about her than you."

A half-smile came on the great man's face, as he nodded: "I understand,
Ainley; I am not blind. It was for that reason I decided that you
should have charge of the search-party, seeing that you have--er--extra
inducements. Find my niece, bring her back to me, and then we can talk
over the matter. And now you had better go and think out your plans
carefully. I shall have to leave here in the morning, but now that I
know Helen is alive, I shall go with a comparatively easy heart."

Gerald Ainley went to his own tent with a smile on his face. For the
furtherance of his ultimate plans things could scarcely have fallen out
better. It was true that Helen yet remained to be found; but he was to
be left to find her, and was to have a free hand in the matter. After a
week or two in the wilderness Helen would be glad enough to meet with
an old friend bringing deliverance, and the intimacy of daily travel
together would inevitably bring her to his arms. His brow darkened a
little as he thought of her present protector. Then it cleared again.
Helen was very proud. Circumstances for the present had thrown her into
Stane's company, but she was the last person in the world to forget
that Stane was an ex-convict, and as he thought of that, all
apprehension of possible complications in that quarter vanished
instantly.

Had he known all, or had he even at that moment been granted a vision
of the camp by the great deadfall, he would scarcely have been so
complacent of mind. For at the very time when he was congratulating
himself on the opportunity opening out before him, Helen Yardely was
seated on a log by the side of the man whom he hated. There was a high
colour in her face and she was laughing a little nervously as she
looked at the astonished face of the sick man who had been her rescuer
and was now her patient.

"Miss Yardely," cried Stane, "do you really mean what you say?"

"Of course I do," replied the girl lightly.

"And Gerald Ainley with another man camped within two miles of here two
nights ago?"

"I should say the distance to the lake is even less than that," replied
Helen with a little laugh.

"And you let them go without a sign."

"I hid myself in the bushes,"