"I don't know. It's three or four days since I left them."
"Then you can come along. I see you have a gun. If you're wise, you'll keep it at the trail."
"Don't be scared," said the other, advancing, "I'm not looking for trouble."
In a few moments he entered the firelight and stopped at a motion from Carnally—a ragged and very weary man, with a pinched and eager look in his face.
"Now," said Carnally, "what brought you here?"
"I'm starving," the man replied; and Andrew thought his appearance bore it out.
He sat down, with the rifle he had carried across his arm, and Carnally indicated the frying-pan.
"There's a bannock and some pork yonder. It won't take long to warm up, but before you get any, we must have a talk. Why did you leave the rest of Mappin's hobos?"
"We wrecked our canoe in a rapid and lost all the grub. There was some trouble about it, and when the others turned back to make the cache I allowed I'd follow you. Missed your trail once or twice, but I figured on the line you'd take and picked it up again."
Andrew thought the tale was plausible, and a bruise on the man's face seemed to corroborate it, as it hinted at the reason for his leaving his comrades.