in all directions, which
made us suppose that the party had been a numerous one.

I was looking about when my eye fell on a small object, almost covered
by the snow.

I ran towards it. It was a powder-flask!

Eagerly I pulled out the cork. It was almost full.

"Here's a prize, Pat!" I exclaimed, holding it up.

"Thank Heaven for it," cried Pat. "We shall now be able to shoot any
bird or baste we catch sight of, but it is a bad lookout for whoever
left it behind."

"I think it tells a tale," I answered. "The party, whoever they were,
must have hurried away--perhaps from the appearance of a body of
Indians, or they might have gone off in chase of some deer or
buffaloes."

"If that was so, no one would have left his powder-horn behind,"
observed Pat. "It's my belafe they took to flight to escape from
Indians. It must have been in the daytime, for there are no pieces of
bark about, or any signs of a night encampment; but how the Indians came
to miss the powder-flask is more than I can say. Let me look at it."
He examined the flask carefully, as I had been doing.

"It's my belafe," he said, "that it does not belong to any of the people
of the fort. My idea is that a party of white men have come over the
Rocky Mountains by Jasper House, and have stopped here on their way
eastward, intending to reach Fort a la Corne, or Fort Pelly, farther
south, though I doubt, unless they can procure sleighs, if they will get
there this winter."

"Be that as it may, the powder-flask is a God-send to us," I said; "and
I hope that the owner will not be the worse without it. At all events,
let us load your rifle to be ready for any animal which may come across
our path."

We searched about for any other treasure which might have been left
behind, but could discover nothing in the immediate neighbourhood of the
fire.

It would be useless to stop where we were, so taking it for granted that
the fugitives had gone eastward, we continued on at right-angles to
their trail.

We had not gone far when, crossing a piece of meadow, where from its
exposure the snow had almost disappeared, Pat cried out, "There is
something else worth having;" and, darting forward, he lifted up a long
lasso composed of buffalo hide. One end had been cut, the other was
fixed into the ground by an iron stake with a ring.

"The owner of this must have mounted his horse in a desperate hurry, and
cut him free," he observed. "If the Indians had take