"I'd hate to have him for a steady boarder."
When it came time to turn in, Lucky, at Bob's suggestion, offered the Eskimo a place in the tepee, but he declined on the ground that it would be too warm.
"Heem say heem sleep out door, geet plenty air."
At Bob's suggestion the Indian had questioned the man further regarding the two men they were hunting, but it seemed that he knew no more than he had told them at first. He had seen them as he came by, but had stopped only to pass the time of day.
Shortly after six o'clock the following morning, Bob awoke with a strange sense of impending disaster. Had he heard someone prowling about in the night or had he only dreamed if? Careful not to disturb the others, who were still sleeping, he wiggled out of his bag and crept noiselessly outside. For a moment he stood gazing into the North where streamer after streamer sent an almost dazzling light far up into the heavens.
"I never saw such a display of the Northern Lights," he murmured as he gazed at the scene at most spellbound.
The fire was burning low only a few embers showing a dim light, but it was not dark and he could see plainly for some distance. There was no sign of their guest and he concluded that he must have slept over near his dogs. Moving quietly he made his way toward the thicket stopping every few feet to listen. He did not want the man to suspect that he was spying on him, but some inner sense told him that all was not well. And a moment later his suspicions were strengthened when he found that both man and team were gone.
"It's strange," he thought as he looked at the place where they had huddled together.
Then he turned and ran quickly over behind the tepee where their stores were packed on the sled. And now his suspicions were confirmed. He had heard someone prowling behind the tepee during the night and he was disgusted with himself that he had not awakened sufficiently to make an investigation. Their stores had been rifled and, it seemed to him, the greater part of them were gone.
"Jack! Lucky!" he yelled.