lt no surprise although a
man was in my camp. The fire had burned low and he stood back in the
gloom where I could not see his face, but a dry branch broke into flame
and the light fell on me. The way the man turned his head indicated that
he was looking about the camp, and he must have seen that I had nothing
but my blanket. But he was silent and did not come forward."

"An Indian?" Thirlwell asked.

"No," said Father Lucien. "He was white."

Thirlwell started. "A white man? It looks impossible. But why didn't
you--?"

"I did not speak. You see, I had not heard him come, and imagine now
that I thought I was dreaming and was afraid to wake and find my hope of
help had gone. After a few moments, he stepped back very quietly into
the shadow, and I called out. There was no answer and I got up. It took
a little time--the blanket was round my legs and my foot hurt--and when
I stumbled away from the fire he had vanished and there was no sound in
the bush. Soon afterwards I fell down in the snow, and lay until the
cold roused me to an effort and I crawled back to the fire. By and by I
went to sleep again and did not waken until daybreak."

"Then," said Thirlwell, meaningly, "you could find no tracks."

"I could not," Father Lucien agreed. "That was not strange, because
light snow was falling when I got up and the wind was fresh. Still I
found this; it shows I was not dreaming."

He gave Thirlwell a wooden pipe with a nickel band round the stem.

"Ah!" said Thirlwell, who examined the frozen pipe and scraped out a
little half-burned tobacco with his knife. "Fifty-cents, at a settlement
store! Not the kind of things the Indians buy, and this is not the stuff
they generally smoke. Besides, you would know an Indian, whether he
spoke or not, by his figure and his pose."

Father Lucien said nothing, but looked at him with a quiet smile, and
Thirlwell resumed: "Well, there was a man; a white man. But the thing's
not to be understood. He knew you were starving and stole away! Then
where did he come from? There's no white man except Driscoll between the
Hudson's Bay post and the mine, and you saved Driscoll's life."

"When I last heard of him, Driscoll was trapping about Stony Creek, a
long way to the east."

Thirlwell knitted his brows and lighted his pipe, which he had put near
the fire to thaw, and there was silence until the _Metis_ arrived with
the sledge, when they took the missionary to their camp and gave him
food.