lay in a corner. Except for this, the chamber was empty.
Foster savagely clenched his fist while Pete stirred the ashes and felt
the blanket.

"It's dry an' the reek o' a cigar is fresh on it," he said. "Yon
fire's no' been oot lang. I'm thinking it's a pity we didna' come last
night."

Foster sat down and looked about. He was getting calm, but felt dull
with disappointment. For all that, he saw why the mine had been
abandoned. There was a fault in the strata, where the vein had slipped
down, but the subsidence had cracked the rock above and he imagined
that the fissure reached the surface. The air was fresh and not very
cold; there was water close by, and Foster saw no reason why Daly
should not have found the chamber a comfortable hiding-place. Yet he
had left it.

"Can you see the basket you talked about?" he asked, giving Pete the
lamp.

Pete found it behind some stones and they examined it together.

"Here's the spirit-stove, some bread, and the can of meat," said
Foster. "But I see no biscuits. Can he have eaten them?"

"There were ower mony. He's ta'en them with him."

"Well," said Foster thoughtfully, "I don't see why the other fellow
brought him provisions he didn't need."

"Maybe something happened since he brought the basket," Pete suggested.

Foster pondered. It was possible that something had happened at the
hotel after Telford's visit that had altered the accomplices' plans, or
made it easier for Daly to get away; but, if this were so, Telford must
have gone back to the mine. He might have done so, but Foster thought
Daly had perhaps not taken his confederate altogether into his
confidence and had changed his plans without warning him. Foster could
not tell what chance the fellow had of stealing away, but as he had
left the basket and only taken some biscuits, it looked as if he did
not expect to go very far on foot.

"We'll get out and try to find which way he's gone," he said.

It was a relief to reach the open air, and they carefully studied the
sloppy snow. Foster knew something about tracking elk and moose, and
Pete had a poacher's skill, but the rapid thaw had blurred the
footprints they found. On the whole, however, Pete imagined that
Telford had returned to the mine since his visit on the previous
evening.

Then they searched about the foot of the rocks and presently found
marks that showed where somebody had climbed. Getting up, they
followed the marks to a beaten