ess?"

"In due time, I or somebody else would build a town. Fuel's power, and
if you could get it cheap, you'd find minerals that would pay for
working. Men with money in Montreal and New York are looking for
openings like this; no place is too remote to build a railroad to if
you can ensure freight."

"You're the most sanguine man I ever met," Blake commented. "Take care
your optimism doesn't ruin you."

"I wonder," Harding went on, "whether Clarke knows about this gas? On
the whole, I think it probable. We can't be very far from the Stony
camp, and there's reason to believe he's been prospecting this
district. It's oil he's out for."

"How did the thing get lighted?" Benson asked in an indifferent tone.

Harding smiled as he gave him a sharp glance. He had failed in his
search for the gum, and he did not expect his companions to share his
enthusiasm over a new plan. They had, however, promised to support
him, and that was enough, for he believed he might yet show them the
way to prosperity.

"Well," he said, "I guess I can't blame you for not feeling very keen;
but that's not the point. I can't answer what you ask, and I believe
our forest wardens are now and then puzzled about how bush fires get
started. We have crossed big belts of burned trees in a country where
we saw no signs of Indians."

"If this blower has been burning long, the Stonies must know of it,"
Blake said. "Isn't it curious that no news of it has reached the
settlements?"

"I'm not sure. They may venerate the thing; and, anyway, they're smart
in some respects. They know that where the white men come their people
are rounded up on reservations, and I guess they'd rather have the
whole country to themselves for trapping and fishing. Then, Clarke may
have persuaded them to say nothing."

"It's possible," Blake agreed thoughtfully. "We'll push on for their
camp the first thing tomorrow."

CHAPTER XIX

THE DESERTED TEPEES

Starting at daybreak, they reached a hillside overlooking the Stony
village on the third afternoon. Surrounded by willows and ragged
spruces, the conical tepees rose in the plain beneath, but Blake
stopped abruptly as he caught sight of them. They were white to the
apex, where the escaping heat of the fire within generally melted the
snow, and no curl of smoke floated across the clearing. The village
was ominously silent and had a deserted look.

"I'm very much afraid Clarke's friends are not at