here and
the Barren Lands, where the musk-ox lives, there is not one Indian in
a hundred who would steal another Indian's trap, or the game in it.
It is one of the understood laws of the North that every hunter shall
have his 'trap line,' or 'run,' and it is not courtesy for another
trapper to encroach upon it; but if he should, and he should lay a
trap close beside another's, it would not be wrong, for the law of the
Great Spirit is greater than the law of man. Why, last winter even the
outlaw Woongas made no effort to steal our traps, though they thirsted
for our lives!"

"Mukoki," said Rod, rising, "I want to shake hands with you before I
go to bed. I'm learning--fast. I wish I were half Indian!"

The next morning the journey up the Ombabika was resumed, and a
little more of anxiety was now mingled with the enthusiasm of the
adventurers. For no one of them could relieve himself of the possible
significance of the gold bullet, the fear that their treasure had been
discovered by another. Wabi regained his confidence first.

"I don't believe it!" he exclaimed at last. Without questioning, the
others knew to what he referred. "I don't believe that our gold
has been found. It is in the heart of the wildest country on the
continent, and surely if such a rich find had been made we would have
heard something about it at Wabinosh House or Kenegami, which are the
nearest points of supply."

"Or, if it was found, the discoverer is dead," added Rod.

"Yes."

In the stern, Mukoki nodded and grunted his conviction.

"Dead," he repeated.

The Ombabika had now become narrow and violent. Against its swift
current the canoe made but little headway, and at noon Mukoki
announced that the river journey was at an end. For a few moments Rod
did not recognize where they had landed. Then he gave a sudden cry of
glad surprise.

"Why, this is where we had supper that night after our terrible
adventure on the river last winter," he exclaimed.

From far off there came faintly to his ears a low, rumbling thunder.

"Listen! That's the river rushing through the break in the mountain
where we walked the edge of the precipice!"

Wabi shrugged his shoulders at the memory of that fearful night and
its desperate race to escape from the Woonga country.

"We've got to do the same thing again, only this time it will be in
daylight."

"Long portage," said Mukoki. "Six mile. Carry everything."

"Until we reach the little creek in the pla