e island and marked the position of the creek, then
an idea struck him. "Would it not be better, Benard, if we removed our
camp to the island? We could then surprise Chigmok when he came."

"Non, m'sieu! I tink of dat las' night; but I remember dat we must
build a fire, an' zee smoke it tell zee tale; whilst zee odour it ees
perceived afar. Den zee dogs, dey give tongue when oder dogs appear,
an' where are we? Anoder ting, s'pose Chigmok not come zee regular
trail; s'pose he knew anoder way through zee woods, an' come out
further up zee lak'. Eef we on zee island we not see heem, but up
here--" he swept a hand in front of him--"we behold zee whole lak' and
we not miss him."

"Yes," agreed Stane. "You are right, Jean. Now go and rest. I will keep
a bright look-out."

"I not doubt dat, m'sieu. You haf zee prize to watch for, but I----"

He turned away without finishing his sentence, and Stane resumed his
sentry go, stopping from time to time to view the long expanse of the
snow-covered lake, and to search the woods along the shore. As the time
passed without bringing any change, and as the unbroken surface of the
snow mocked him with its emptiness, he grew sick at heart, and a
feverish anxiety mounted within him. He felt utterly helpless, and a
fear that Chief George had lied, and had deliberately misled them, grew
in him till it reached the force of conviction. Watching that empty
valley of the lake, he felt, was a waste of time. To be doing nothing,
when Helen was being hurried to be knew not what fate, was torture to
him. It would, he thought, be better to go back on their trail, and
endeavour to pick up that of the kidnappers, since that way they would
at least be sure that they were on the right lines. So strongly did
this idea appeal to him, that he turned down the trail to the camp to
propose the plan to his companion. But when he turned the corner of the
cliff, it was to find Jean Benard fast asleep in front of the fire, and
though his first impulse was to waken him, he refrained, remembering
how tired the man must be, and how necessary it was that he should be
as fresh as possible when the moment for action arrived.

"No," he whispered, as he looked at the bent form of the sleeping man.
"I will wait one hour, and then we will decide."

He himself was beginning to feel the strain of the steady marching to
and fro, and decided that it would be wise to spare himself as much as
possible. Accordingly he seated h