“It seemed to. He isn’t a Company man, it appears.”
“A free trader?” questioned Louis.
“He didn’t say. He is on his way from Portage la Prairie to Pembina.”
“Portage la Prairie is on the Assiniboine. Why did he come this way?”
“He said it was shorter and he wanted to make speed.”
Louis shook his head doubtfully. “Shorter? No, I think not. He must be off his course. How many are in his party?”
“No one but himself. He didn’t even have a sled, only a pack and his snowshoes.”
“But that is strange. You are sure he had no comrades?”
“I asked him if he had come all the way alone,” Neil explained, “and he said that at first he had traveled with two others. Yesterday or last night, he left them. He had quarreled with them I think. When he went away, he warned me to look out for them and not to trust them. I asked if they were coming this way. He didn’t know where they were going, he said, but they were somewhere around here in the hills.”
“What about the painted skull?” inquired Walter.