replied the elder Indian, while his comrade
unfastened from the sled a little bundle containing letters.

"Any news? Are all well?" chorused the men.

"Ay, all well. It is many day since we left. The way is very rough,
and we did not find much deer. We saw one camp of Indian, but they
'fraid to come. I not know why. But I see with them one fair flower
which grow in the fields of the Esquimaux. I suppose the Indian pluck
her, and dare not come back here."

Stanley started, and his cheek grew pale.

"A fair flower, say you? Speak literally, man: was it a little white
girl that you saw?"

"No," replied the Indian, "it was no white girl we saw. It was one
young Esquimau woman."

Stanley heaved a deep sigh and turned away, muttering, "Ah! I might
have known that she could not have fallen into the hands of Indians so
far to the south."

"Well, lads, take care of these fellows," he cried, crushing down the
feelings that had been for a brief moment awakened in his heart by the
Indian's words, "and give them plenty to eat and smoke." So saying he
went off with the packet, followed by Frank.

"Niver fear ye; come along, honey," said Bryan, grasping the elder
Indian by the arm, while the younger was carried off by Massan, and the
dogs taken care of by Ma-istequan and Gaspard.

On perusing the letters, Stanley found that it would be absolutely
necessary to send a packet of dispatches to headquarters. The
difficulties of his position required to be more thoroughly explained,
and erroneous notions corrected.

"What shall I do, Frank?" said he, with a perplexed look. "These
Indians cannot return to Moose, having received orders, I find, to
journey in a different direction. Our own men know the way, but I
cannot spare the good ones among them, and the second-rate cannot be
depended on without a leader."

Frank did not give an immediate reply. He seemed to be pondering the
subject in his mind. At length he said, "Could not Dick Prince be
spared?"

"No; he is too useful here. The fact is, Frank, I think I must send
you. It will do you good, my dear boy, and tend to distract your mind
from a subject which is now hopeless."

Frank at first objected strongly to this plan, on the ground that it
would prevent him from assisting in the forlorn search for Edith; but
Stanley pointed out that he and the men could continue it, and that, on
the other hand, his (Frank's) personal presence at headquarters would be