ough another time--I don't
remember when--we gave two Kamtchadales messages we'd cut on slips of
wood. Sometimes the schooners stood in along the coast."

Wyllard nodded. "Dunton of the _Cypress_ got your message," he said.
"He was in difficulties then, but he afterwards sent it me."

"Well," said Lewson, "there isn't much more to it. We hung about the
beach awhile, and then went north before the winter. Jake played out
on the trail. By and bye he had to let up, and in a day or two I
buried him."

He spread his hands out, and his voice grew hoarse. "After that it
didn't seem to matter what became of me, but I kept the trail somehow,
and found I couldn't stay up yonder. That's why I started south with
some of them before the summer came. Now I'm here--talking
English--talking with white men--but it doesn't seem the same as it
should have been--without the others."

He broke off, and said no more that night, but Wyllard translated part
of his story for the benefit of Overweg. The latter made a little
expressive gesture.

"The thing, it seems incredible," he commented. "This man, who has so
little to tell, knows things which would make a trained explorer
famous."

"It generally happens that way," said Wyllard with a dry smile. "The
men who know can't tell."

Overweg made a sign of assent, and then changed the subject.

"What will you do now?"

"Start for the inlet where we expect to find the schooner at sunrise.
I want to say"--and Wyllard hesitated--"that you have laid an
obligation on me which I can never repay; but I can, at least, replace
the provisions you have supplied me with."

"That goes for nothing," said the other with a smile. "I have,
however, drawn upon my base camp rather heavily, and should be glad of
any stores from the schooner that you could let me have. The
difficulty is that I do not wish to go too far towards the beach."

They arranged a rendezvous a day or two's march from the inlet, and in
another half-hour all of them were fast asleep.

When the first of the daylight came Wyllard set off with his two
companions, and since it was evident that Dampier must have now lain in
the inlet awaiting them a considerable time, they marched fast for
several days. Then to their consternation they came upon the Siwash
lying beside a river badly lame. It appeared that in climbing a
slippery ridge of rock the knee he had injured had given way, and he
had fallen some distance heavily,