dity impressed on him!"

They waited, talking about indifferent matters, until Curtis arrived. At
Cyril's request he made a rough diagram of the tracks he had discovered
in the neighborhood of the muskeg and stated his theory of what had
happened there.

"A clever piece of reasoning," Cyril remarked. "There's scarcely a flaw
in it, as you'll see by my account of the affair. After saying good-by to
Prescott on the night I left the settlement, I went on until I was near
the muskeg and had dismounted to camp when a stranger rode up. We sat
talking for a while and I foolishly told him I meant to buy some horses
and apply for a railroad haulage contract, from which he no doubt
concluded I was carrying some money. Soon afterward, he went off to
hobble his horse, and I suppose he must have crept up behind me and
knocked me out with the handle of his quirt, for I fell over with a
stupefying pain in my head. This was the last thing I was clearly
conscious of until the next morning, when I found myself lying close to
the water, but at some distance from where I met the man. My hat had gone
and my head was cut; my horse had disappeared, and I afterward discovered
I had been robbed."

Cyril paused and glanced at Curtis.

"There's a point to be accounted for--how I reached the spot where I was
lying, and this is my suggestion: The fellow thought he had killed me and
in alarm determined to throw me into the muskeg. As I had a hazy
recollection of being roughly lifted, I imagine he laid me across his
saddle and after a while I must have moved or groaned. Then, having no
doubt only meant to stun me, he left me on the ground. All this fits in
with your theory."

"What was the man like?" Curtis asked.

Cyril described him, explaining that there was a good moon; and the
corporal nodded, as if satisfied.

"Then I'm glad to say that, as I half expected, we have got the fellow;
corralled him for horse-stealing a while ago, and he'll be charged with
robbing you in due time. But go on."

"I felt horribly thirsty, and crawling to the edge of the sloo, tumbled
in. There was more slime than water, but I could see a cleaner pool some
way out, and being up to my knees already, I tried to reach it. It was
hardly fit to drink, but I felt better and clearer-headed after
swallowing some; and then I noticed thick grass in front of me. This
implied that the swamp was shallower there and I made for the other bank,
instead of going back. The gras