The Gold Hunters / A Story of Life and Adventure in the Hudson Bay Wilds

t the old warrior and his team burst into view and both of the young hunters hurried to meet him. A glance showed Rod that a little longer and Mukoki would have droppe

ned Mukoki joyously. "

is companions, "what is the first thing to be done?" "We must strike for the Woonga trail without a moment

the d

erly bushed. You can add a few of your own and I'll take what's left to drive on the mail. I would advi

r own animals to put in harness with those of the Hudson Bay mail. The dogs from Wabinosh House were wildly famished and at the sight and odor of the great piece of meat which the courier began cutting up for them they set up a snarling and snapping of jaws, and began fighting indiscriminately among

Wabi came dow

"We're a little short on grub for nine dogs and three people, but we'

opping. A few more strokes, and water gushed thro

pared to leave. It was only three o'clock, but a penetrating chill was growing in the air. Half an hour more and only a reddish glow would be where the northern sun still shone feebly. In the far North winter night falls with the swiftness of win

e called, as Mukoki's cries sent the dogs tro

sledge, and Rod, who was fresher than either of his comrades, followed close behind. Afte

in the plain-to-morrow?" he

s the shortest cut to it. After that, after we

o had discovered it, either of whom, with the woodcraft instinct born in them, would have gone to it as easily as a fox to the end of a strong trail hidden in autumn leaves. If he did fail-He shuddered, even as he ran, as he thought of the fate that awaited Minnetaki. A few hours before he had been one of the happiest youths in the world. Wabi's lovely little sister, he had believed, was safe at Kenegami House; he had bade adieu to his friends at the Post; every minute after that had taken him nearer to that far city in the South, to his mother, and home. And now so suddenly that he had hardly

s faded away; the gloom grew thicker; far ahead, like an endless sheet losing itself in a distant smother of blackness, stretched the ice and snow of Lake Nipigon. There was no tree, no rock for guidance over the trackless waste, yet never for an instant did Mukoki or Wa

sky, until the orb hung like a great golden-white disk. In the splendor of it the solitude of ice and snow glistened without end. There was no sound but the slipping of the sledge, the pattering of the dogs' moccasined feet, and now and then a few breathless word

st! We're

to him. The sharp pinnacles of the forest, reaching up into the night's white glow, grew more and more distinct as the sledge sped on, and five

he dropped on the sledge. "We'll ca

o the last, had al

ned, "Too tired! You

amp-the

rced enthusiasm. "If I sit down for five minutes I'll fall as

. Rod's experience that day had not been filled with the terrible hardships of his companions, and for some time after they had fallen asleep he sat close to the fire, thinking again of the strangeness with which his fortunes had changed, and watching the flickering firelight as it played in a thousand fanciful figures in the deeper and denser gloom of the forest. The dogs had crept in close to

eemed to creep into him, telling him that she was awake, and that she was thinking of her friends. Was it a touch of sleep, or that wonderful thing called mental telepathy, that wrought the next picture in his brain? It came with startling vividness. He saw the girl beside a fire. Her beautiful hair, glistening black in the firelight,

e in the mysterious chasm, the vision of the dancing skeletons, and which had revealed the secret of the old cabin and the lost gold. In vain he tried to shake off his nervousness and his fear. Why had Woo

mother. It was a vision that had guided him to the discovery of this precious map, and the knowledge of it made him more uneasy now. A few moments before he had seen Minnetaki as plainly

ches of sleep. He dreamed, dreamed constantly of Minnetaki whenever he lost consciousness. Now he saw her before the fire, as he had seen her in his vision; again, she was struggling in the Woonga's powerful grasp

ompanions had obtained four hours of rest. In another hour he would arouse them. Quietly he began making

the Indian youth sat er

was gloom enough among them as it was. But he would hurry. He was the first to get through with breakfast, the first to set to work among the dog

from the camp, M

mile," replied t

We ought to m

ur longer the moon continued to light up the wilderness; then, with its descent lower and lower into the west, the gloom began to thicken, until only the stars wer

pla

d's blood was thrilled with the romance of what lay at his feet and far beyond, thrilled with the romance and mystery of that land of t

stnesses beheld? What treasure did they hold? Half a century or more ago the men whose skeletons they had found in the old cabin had braved the perils of those trackless solitudes, and somewhere hundr

ne. He spoke no word to his companions, and neither Rod nor Wabigoon offered a suggestion. They knew, without questioning, that they were approaching their old camp, and just as the experienced hunter makes no sign or sound while his dog is nosing out a half-lost trail so they held back while Mukoki, the most famous pathfinder in all those regions, led them slowly on. The last of the stars went out. For a time the blackness of the ni

p!" brea

e c

th suppressed excitement, the Ind

s all up

had come clos

ispered. "Now-where

ior's eyes w

he

hat was all. Not a track was left in the snow. The warm sun had

hat could he hope to find of

prayed for guidance in th