in prized it merely as a glittering
adornment to his barbaric necklace."

"I agree with you," said I, "and I think it is time we closed so trivial
a discussion. Justice has been done and I am satisfied."

With that I thrust the locket deep into my pocket.

"There is another thing," said Captain Rudstone; "why did the Indian
fire on us? He may have been scouting in advance of a hostile force."

"I do not think we are in any danger," I replied. "Indeed, I can offer a
solution to the mystery. After my father's death the murderer was sought
for, but his own tribe spirited him away, and I believe he fled to the
far West. His relatives declared at the time that he had gone crazy on
account of a blow on the head, and believed he had a mission to kill
white men. This was likely true. And now, after a lapse of five years,
the fellow wandered back to this neighborhood and fired on us at sight."

Such was my earnest conviction, and for the most part the rest agreed
with me. But Tom Arnold was inclined to be skeptical, and shook his head
gravely.

"You may be right, my boy," he said, "but I'm a cautious man, and I
don't think overmuch of your argument. Leastways, the chances are even
that your dead Indian belonged to the party who took Fort Royal, and
that the whole body is marching on Fort Charter. So off we go for a
rapid march, and let every man put his best foot forward."

"Under any circumstances," I replied, "whether we are in danger or not,
we ought to reach the fort as soon as possible, and at the best we can't
make it before midnight."

So a little later we were traveling south again, surmounting by the aid
of snowshoes, all the rugged difficulties of the wintry wilderness.
Flora was strapped on the sledge as before, and we had left the dead
Indian--for whose fate I felt not the least compunction--lying where he
had fallen.

We marched on for two hours, and then our fear of the weather proved to
be well founded. A furious snowstorm came on suddenly, and a violent
wind whirled the flakes into our faces; the cold grew intense, and we
could not see a yard ahead of us. A more terrific blizzard we had none
of us known in the past.

For a little while we floundered on resolutely, blinded and half-frozen,
becoming more exhausted each minute. The storm seemed to be getting
worse, and we encountered great drifts. There was not a sign by which we
could steer in the right direction, and we could not be sure that we
were n