One of them
said that they did, and added that he stayed with them now and then.
Lane next asked why they took him in, and the Indian hesitated.

"He was a big medicine man and cured us when we were ill," he answered
cautiously.

"Do you know these white men?" Lane asked, indicating Blake's party.

An Indian declared that they had never seen them, though he added that
it was known that they were in the neighborhood. Being questioned
about this, he explained that about the time of Clarke's arrival one of
the tribe had come in from the North, where he had met a half-breed who
told him that he had traveled some distance with three white men who
were going to the settlements. Knowing the country, they had
calculated that the white men could not be very far off.

Harding felt anxious. He saw where Lane's questions led, and realized
that the sergeant meant to sift the matter thoroughly. There was not
much cause to fear that he and his friends would be held responsible
for Clarke's death; but he suspected things he did not wish the police
to guess; and the Indians might mention having seen a white man's
footprints on the occasion when he had forcibly taken Clarke away.
Owing perhaps to their difficulty in making themselves understood,
nothing, however, was said of this.

"How was it you left the white man in your village by himself?" Lane
asked.

The Indians began to talk to one another, and it was with some trouble
that Emile at last elicited an answer.

"It is a thing that puzzles us," said one. "The white man came alone
and told us he had seen tracks of caribou three days' journey back. As
we had no meat, and our fish was nearly done, six of us went to look
for the deer."

"Six of you? Where are the rest? These tepees would hold a good many
people."

"They are hunting farther north," the Indian explained. "When we got
to the place the white man told us of, we could see no caribou tracks.
As he was a good hunter, we thought this strange; but we went on,
because there was another muskeg like the one he spoke of, and we might
not have understood him. Then the snow came and we camped until it was
over, and afterward came back, finding no deer. When we reached the
tepees, he had gone, and we do not know what has become of him. We
could not follow because the snow had covered his trail."

"He is dead," Lane said abruptly. "I found him frozen a few days ago."

Their surprise was obviously genuine, and L