ll the
gal was fetched."

"Did she come?" and Constance leaned eagerly forward, as the old man
paused.

"No, miss. They couldn't find hair nor hide of her. She'd skipped
out."

"Oh!"

"Yes, cut an' run. Ye should have seed the look on the parson's face
when he heerd that; it was terrible. An' ye could have heered the men
hoot an' laugh clean up here, if ye'd been listenin'."

"But where did she go?" asked Mr. Radhurst. "The girl was here until
quite late yesterday afternoon."

"That's what the men couldn't find out. The old chief was mighty
surly, too, an' wouldn't tell nothin'. But thar was one thing I did
notice," he continued. "While the rest was hootin' an' shoutin', a
scart look come over Pritchen's face when he heered that the girl had
skipped, an' that the chief was cranky. He seemed feered of somethin',
an' I can't make out jist what it is."

"Were those the only charges, Mr. Burke?" questioned Constance, anxious
to hear more.

"No, thar's another I'm comin' to now, an' a mighty nasty one, at that."

Constance's face became still paler, and her lips quivered as she heard
these ominous words. Was there no end to these terrible things?

"They say that the other poke found in the chist has a mighty
suspicious look about it."

"In what way?"

"Waal, ye see, thar was two letters on the poke, which seemed to pint
to somethin' bad. Pritchen was out huntin' mountain sheep a short time
ago, so he says, in the Ibex Valley. While thar he stayed in an old
log shanty, an' the place was all upsot lookin', so he says, as if a
terrible fight had taken place. Then he finds a book layin' on the
floor with the parson's name inside."

"What book was it?" asked Constance eagerly.

"I'm not sure that I kin remember the full name," and the old man
scratched his head in a puzzled manner. "But it's a book of poetry
written by a chap by the name of Brown or Black, I jist can't tell
which. I never heered of 'im afore, 'ave you?"

But Constance did not reply. She was thinking of what Keith had told
her about his copy of Browning. He had lost it somewhere on the trail,
but he had told her nothing about the cabin. What did it all mean?

"But that wasn't all, miss. Thinkin' somethin' was wrong, Pritchen
hunted around fer a time, an' found whar a man had been buried, but the
wolves hadn't left much, only torn clothes. The chap had been put into
the snow, while a cross an' two letters had been cut in th