Jack sank down on one of the chairs, glad of a chance to rest his aching legs. As the two Frenchmen hurried about their tasks he studied them closely. They were both large men, well above the average in both height and weight, but the one whom the other had called Pierre was little less than a giant.
“He must be all of six foot three,” Jack thought as the man straightened up after touching a match to the kindling in the stove.
Both men wore short black beards and resembled each other so closely that he decided they must be brothers. The eyes of both were small and shaded by shaggy brows, giving to their faces a most cruel expression.
Jack was not lacking in bravery, but as he realized that he was in the power of two men who probably thought no more of murder than he would of shooting a squirrel, a chill of fear stole over him, and he breathed a silent prayer that he might escape.
To his surprise he saw that the closet or cupboard was well supplied with food, judging from the large number of cans which he could see on the shelves.
Since entering the cabin the men had not paid the slightest attention to him, and several times he wondered if it would not be possible for him to slip out of the door and escape them in the darkness. But he realized that, even should he succeed in eluding them, he would more than likely perish from cold and hunger before he could find his way back to the camp. And besides, he remembered that a light snow had been falling for the past hour, and that as soon as it was light they would easily be able to track him.
By this time the fire was roaring up the old rusty chimney, sending a welcome warmth through the room.
“Hope they don’t intend to starve me,” Jack thought as the odor of frying bacon filled the room.
But his heart sank as, the meal being ready, the two men sat up at the table and started eating without as much as a glance toward him. Jack was by this time very hungry and his mouth watered as he saw them gulping down huge mouthfuls of the food. Besides bacon, he could see that they had a good supply of eggs and crackers, as well as canned fruit.
“They must have been expecting to come here soon or they wouldn’t had those eggs here,” he thought as he watched them.