hy snow, out of which ridges of volcanic rock rose here
and there. On two of these spots a couple of days' march from the
schooner, he made a depot of provisions, and piled a heap of stones
beside them. At times, when it was clear, he could see the top of a
great range high up against the western sky, but those times were rare.
For the most part, the wilderness was swept by rain or wrapped in clammy
fog.

There was, however, no sign of Wyllard, and at last Dampier, coming back
jaded and dejected from another fruitless search, after the time agreed
upon had expired, shut himself up alone for a couple of hours in the
little cabin. He was certain now that Wyllard and his companions had
been drowned while attempting to make a landing on the ice, since they
would have joined him at the inlet as arranged had this not been the
case. The distance was by no means great, and there were no Russian
settlements on that part of the coast. The skipper sat very still with a
clenched hand upon the little table, balancing conjecture against
conjecture, and then regretfully decided that there was only one course
open to him. It was dark when he went up on deck again, but the men were
sitting smoking about the windlass forward.

"You can heave some of that cable in, boys," he announced. "We'll clear
out for Vancouver at sun-up."

The men said nothing, but they shipped the levers, and Dampier went back
to the cabin, for the clank of the windlass and the ringing of the cable
jarred upon him.

Early next morning the _Selache_ stood out to sea, and once they had
left behind them the fog and rain near the coast, she carried fine
weather with her across the Pacific. On reaching Vancouver, Dampier had
some trouble with the authorities, to whom it was necessary to report
the drowning of three of his crew, but he was more fortunate than he
expected, and after placing the schooner for sale with a broker, he left
the city one evening on the Atlantic train. Three days later he was
driving across the prairie towards the Hastings homestead. The members
were sitting together in the big general room after supper, when the
wagon Dampier had hired swung into sight over the crest of a hill.

It was a still, hot evening, and, as the windows were open wide, a faint
beat of hoofs came up across the tall wheat and dusty prairie before the
wagon topped the rise. Hastings, who sat in a cane chair near the
window, with his pipe in his hand, looked up as he hea