large estate. The
sister doesn't count, though she got her brother's personal property--the
land goes down in the male line."

Lisle dropped his pipe.

"Now I understand! Gladwyne profits, my dead partner bore the shame. But
do you believe the man meant to let his cousin die?"

"No," Nasmyth answered sharply, "that's unthinkable! But I blame him
almost as much as if he had done so. Besides his duty to George, he had a
duty to himself and to the family--the honorable men and women who had
kept the name clean before him. Knowing he would inherit on George's
death, there was only one way open--he should have gone back, at any
cost. Instead, to clear himself of the faintest trace of ugly suspicion,
he lays the blame upon an innocent man."

Lisle did not reply to this. He felt that had the grim choice been
imposed upon his companion, the man would have taken the course he had
indicated.

"You said that George Gladwyne was a naturalist," he remarked. "Was he a
methodical man?"

"Eminently so," replied Nasmyth, wondering where the question led. He had
already been astonished at Lisle's close reasoning and the correctness of
his deductions.

"Then he would have made notes on his journey and no doubt have kept some
kind of diary. Did the rescue party recover it?"

"They did. It was given to George's sister."

"Damaged by snow or water, badly tattered?"

"It was," assented Nasmyth. "I've had the book in my hands. I suppose
it's natural that you should guess its condition, but I don't see what it
points to."

Lisle smiled grimly.

"One wouldn't be astonished to find some leaves missing from a tattered
book."

"You're right again." Nasmyth started. "Several had gone."

"I think I can tell which part of the journey they related to. A
methodical man would make a note of the stores cached, and the lists
would be conclusive evidence if anybody afterward opened the caches and
enumerated their contents, as we have done. If everything put into the
one on the bank Vernon followed remained there, it would prove that he
couldn't have found it. On the other hand, if the one on Gladwyne's side
of the river--"

"Of course!" Nasmyth broke in. "You needn't labor the point; it's plain
enough." He stopped for a few moments before he went on again. "I'm
convinced; but without that list of Gladwyne's you still haven't proof
enough to place your account of the affair beyond dispute. What are you
going to do?"

"I'm going to Engl