"I can answer that," said Harding. "He was in the habit of staying at the Indian village we told you of. We saw tracks coming from it when we were there the day before the blizzard began."
"A white man's tracks? Why did you go to the village?"
"I believe they were," Blake replied. "We went to look for provisions and didn't get them, because the place was empty."
"Then how do you account for the fellow's being there alone?"
"I can't account for it," Blake said quietly.
Lane turned to Harding, who had a theory but was not prepared to communicate it to the police.
"It's certainly curious," he remarked.
"We'll start for the village to-morrow."
"As the Indians are away, there won't be much to be learned," Benson suggested.
"They may have come back. Anyway, it's my business to find out all I can."