s the kerosene. We'll
get the stuff analyzed later; but you had better stopper the flask,
because we don't want the smell to rouse Lane's curiosity. The
important point is that, as I've reasons for believing the oil is fresh
from the ground, Clarke must have found it shortly before the blizzard
overtook him. That fixes the locality, and we shouldn't have much
trouble in striking the spot when we come back again." His eyes
sparkled. "It's going to be well worth while; this is a big thing!"

Blake did not feel much elation. He had all along thought his comrade
too sanguine; though he meant to back him.

"In a way, it was very hard luck for Clarke," he said. "If you're
right in your conclusions, he's been searching for the oil for several
years; and now he's been cut off just when it looks as if he'd found
it."

"You don't owe him much pity. What would have happened if we hadn't
met the police?"

"It's unpleasant to think of. No doubt we'd have starved to death."

"A sure thing!" said Harding. "It hasn't struck you that this was what
he meant us to do."

Blake started.

"Are you making a bold guess, or have you any ground for what you're
saying?"

"I see you'll have to be convinced. Very well; in the first place, the
man would have stuck at nothing. I've already tried to show you that
he had something to gain by Benson's death. I suspected when we took
you away from him that you were running a big risk, Benson."

"I was running a bigger one before that, if you can call a thing a risk
when the result's inevitable," Benson replied. "The pace I was going
would have killed me in another year or two, and even now I'm half
afraid----" He paused for a few moments, with somber face and knitted
brows. "I believe you're right, Harding," he went on thoughtfully;
"but you haven't told us how he proposed to get rid of me."

"I'm coming to that. There was, however, another member of this party
who was in his way, and he made his plans to remove you both."

"You mean me?" Blake broke in. "I don't see how he'd profit by my
death."

"First, let's look at what he did. As soon as he reached the village,
he heard that we had started from the Hudson Bay post. It wouldn't be
difficult to calculate how long the food we could carry would last, and
he'd see that the chances were in favor of our calling at the village
for provisions. Presuming on that, he sent his friends away to look
for caribou which they coul