Of the three the Indian was the first to recover.
"Bo' jou', bo' jou'," said he, calmly.
Sam collected himself to a reply. Dick said nothing, but fell behind,
with his rifle across his arm. All marched on in silence to where lay
the dog-sledge, guarded by May-may-gwán. The Chippewa's keen eyes took
in every detail of the scene, the overturning of the sledge, the
muzzling of the dogs, the general nature of the equipment. If he made
any deductions, he gave no sign, nor did he evince any further
astonishment at finding these men so far north at such a time of year.
Only, when he thought himself unobserved, he cast a glance of peculiar
intelligence at the girl, who, after a moment's hesitation, returned it.
The occasion was one of elaborate courtesy. Sam ordered tea boiled, and
offered his tobacco. Over the fire he ventured a more direct inquiry
than his customary policy would have advised.
"My brother is a long journey from the Missináibie."
The Chippewa assented.
"Haukemah, then, hunts these districts."
The Chippewa replied no.
"My brother has left Haukemah."
Again the Chippewa denied, but after enjoying for a moment the baffling
of the old man's intentions, he volunteered information.
"The trapper of this district is my brother. I have visited him."
"It was a short visit for so long a journey. The trail is but three days
old."
Ah-tek assented gravely. Evidently he cared very little whether or not
his explanation was accepted.
"How many days to Winnipeg?" asked Sam.
"I have never been there," replied the Indian.
"We have summered in the region of the Missináibie," proffered Sam. "Now
we go to Winnipeg."
The Indian's inscrutable countenance gave no indication as to whether or
not he believed this. After a moment he knocked the ashes from his pipe
and arose, casting another sharp glance at May-may-gwán. She had been
busy at the sledge. Now she approached, carrying simply her own blankets
and clothing.
"This man," said she to the two, "is of my people. He returns to them. I
go with him."
The Chippewa twisted his feet into his snow-shoes, nodded to the white
men, and swung away on the back trail in the direction whence our
travellers had come. The girl, without more leave-taking, followed close
at his back. For an instant the crunch of shoes splintered the frosty
air. Then they rounded a bend. Silence fell swift as a hawk.
"Well, I'll be damned!" ejaculated Dick at last. "Do you think he was
really up here visiting?"
"No, of course not," replied Sam. "Don't you see--"
"Then he came after the girl?"
"Good God, _no!_" answered Sam. "He--"
"Then he was after me," interrupted Dick again with growing excitement.
"Why didn't you let me shoot him, Sam--"
"Will you shut up and listen to me?" demanded the old man, impatiently.
"If he'd wanted you, he'd have got you when you were hurt last summer;
and if he'd wanted the girl, he'd have got her then, too. It's all clear
to me. He _has_ been visiting a friend,--perhaps his brother, as he
said,--and he did spend less than three days in the visit. What did he
come for? Let me tell you! That friend, or brother, is Jingoss, and he
came up here to warn him that we're after him. The Chippewa suspected us
a little on the Missináibie, but he wasn't sure. Probably he's had his
eye on us ever since."
"But why didn't he warn this Jingoss long ago, then?" objected Dick.
"Because we fooled him, just as we fooled all the Injuns. We _might_ be
looking for winter posts, just as we said. And then if he came up here
and told Jingoss we were after him, when really we didn't know beans
about Jingoss and his steals, and then this Jingoss should skip the
country and leave an almighty good fur district all for nothing, that
would be a nice healthy favour to do for a man, wouldn't it! No, he had
to be _sure_ before he made any moves. And he didn't get to be sure
until he heard somehow from some one who saw our trails that three
people were travelling in the winter up through this country. Then he
piked out to warn Jingoss."
"I believe you're right!" cried Dick.
"Of course I'm right. And another thing; if that's the case we're pretty
close there. How many more trappers are there in this district? Just
one! And since this Chippewa is going back on his back trail within
three days after he made it, he couldn't have gone farther than that one
man. And that one man must be--"
"Jingoss himself!" finished Dick.
"Within a day and a half of us, anyway; probably much closer,"
supplemented Sam. "It's as plain as a sledge-trail."
"He's been warned," Dick reminded him.
But Sam, afire with the inspiration of inductive reasoning, could see no
objection there.
"This Chippewa knew we were in the country," he argued, "but he hadn't
any idea we were so close. If he had, he wouldn't have been so foolish
as to follow his own back track when he was going out. I don't know what
his ideas were, of course, but he was almighty surprised to see us here.
He's warned this Jingoss, not more than a day or so ago. But he didn't
tell him to skedaddle at once. He said, 'Those fellows are after you,
and they're moseying around down south of here, and probably they'll get
up here in the course of the winter. You'd probably better slide out
'till they get done.' Then he stayed a day and smoked a lot, and started
back. Now, if Jingoss just thinks we're coming _some time_, and not
to-morrow, he ain't going to pull up stakes in such a hell of a hurry.
He'll pack what furs he's got, and he'll pick up what traps he's got
out. That would take him several days, anyway. My son, we're in the nick
of time!"
"Sam, you're a wonder," said Dick, admiringly. "I never could have
thought all that out."
"If that idea's correct," went on Sam, "and the Chippewa's just come
from Jingoss, why we've got the Chippewa's trail to follow back, haven't
we?"
"Sure!" agreed Dick, "all packed and broken."
They righted the sledge and unbound the dogs' jaws.
"Well, we got rid of the girl," said Dick, casually. "Damn little fool.
I didn't think she'd leave us that easy. She'd been with us quite a
while."
"Neither did I," admitted Sam; "but it's natural, Dick. We ain't her
people, and we haven't treated her very well, and I don't wonder she was
sick of it and took the first chance back. We've got our work cut out
for us now, and we're just as well off without her."
"The Chippewa's a sort of public benefactor all round," said Dick.
The dogs yawned prodigiously, stretching their jaws after the severe
muzzling. Sam began reflectively to undo the flaps of the sledge.
"Guess we'd better camp here," said he. "It's getting pretty late and
we're due for one hell of a tramp to-morrow."