may not. They were hunting. It may be a rock where they
camped, or where they agreed to meet after their hunt, and probably
where they boiled their kettle."

"They weren't Bay folk, whatever," asserted David. "The writin' ain't
like any of the Bay folkses writin'. None of un here could write so
fine."

"None of the Bay folk would be hidin' things that way either," said
Andy. "If 'twere anything small enough to hide in a tree they'd been
takin' un with un and not leavin' un behind. If 'twere too big to
carry, they'd just left un in a cache and come back for un when they
gets ready and not do any writin' about un."

"I think you are right, Andy," agreed Doctor Joe. "For the reasons you
give and for still other reasons I feel very certain strangers to the
Bay left the cache."

"What were they meanin' by 'swag,' Doctor Joe?" asked Andy. "I never
hears that word before. 'Tis a wonderful strange word."

"It usually means," explained Doctor Joe, "something that has been
stolen. The use of that word is one of the reasons that leads me to
conclude that it was not written by any of our people of the Bay. I am
quite sure none of them knows what the word means, and like you I
doubt if any of them ever heard it. There seems no doubt, indeed, that
strangers to these parts wrote it, and as there are no other strangers
in the Bay than the lumbermen, we are safe in concluding that the
cairn was built and the note written by someone from the lumber camp
at Grampus River."

"'Swag' is a wonderful strange soundin' word, now," said David. "I
never hears un before."

"I'm thinkin' I knows what 'tis they hid now!" exclaimed Andy
suddenly. "'Tis _Lem Horn's silver_! 'Tis the men hid un that shot Lem
and stole the silver! 'Tweren't Indian Jake shot Lem at all! 'Twere
men from the lumber camp! What they calls 'swag' is Lem's silver!"

"That's what 'tis, now! 'Tis sure Lem Horn's silver!" David exploded
excitedly. "I never would have thought of un bein' that! Andy's
wonderful spry thinkin' things out, and he's mostly always right,
too!"

"And Indian Jake never stole un! He never stole un!" Jamie burst out
joyfully. "I were knowin' all the time he wouldn't steal un! Indian
Jake wouldn't go shootin' folk and stealin' from un!"

"It may be," said Doctor Joe. "At any rate it seems extremely probable
the 'swag' as they call it is stolen property that has been hidden.
That word and the threat together with the other circumstances make it