y
lord to advantage; it will seem even strange to you that I should love
him; but I do, and I am not alone. If he goes back to Albany, it must be
by force, and it will be the death-warrant of his reason, and perhaps
his life. That is my sincere belief; but I am in your hands, and ready
to obey, if you will assume so much responsibility as to command."

"I will have no shred of responsibility; it is my single endeavour to
avoid the same," cried Sir William. "You insist upon following this
journey up; and be it so! I wash my hands of the whole matter."

With which word he turned upon his heel and gave the order to break
camp; and my lord, who had been hovering near by, came instantly to my
side.

"Which is it to be?" said he.

"You are to have your way," I answered. "You shall see the grave."

* * * * *

The situation of the Master's grave was, between guides, easily
described; it lay, indeed, beside a chief landmark of the Wilderness, a
certain range of peaks, conspicuous by their design and altitude, and
the source of many brawling tributaries to that inland sea, Lake
Champlain. It was therefore possible to strike for it direct, instead of
following back the blood-stained trail of the fugitives, and to cover,
in some sixteen hours of march, a distance which their perturbed
wanderings had extended over more than sixty. Our boats we left under a
guard upon the river; it was, indeed, probable we should return to find
them frozen fast; and the small equipment with which we set forth upon
the expedition, included not only an infinity of furs to protect us from
the cold, but an arsenal of snow-shoes to render travel possible, when
the inevitable snow should fall. Considerable alarm was manifested at
our departure; the march was conducted with soldierly precaution, the
camp at night sedulously chosen and patrolled; and it was a
consideration of this sort that arrested us, the second day, within not
many hundred yards of our destination--the night being already imminent,
the spot in which we stood well qualified to be a strong camp for a
party of our numbers; and Sir William, therefore, on a sudden thought,
arresting our advance.

Before us was the high range of mountains toward which we had been all
day deviously drawing near. From the first light of the dawn, their
silver peaks had been the goal of our advance across a tumbled lowland
forest, thrid with rough streams, and strewn with mon