"And when you heard?" asked Helen prompting him as he fell silent.
"When I heard, I did not waste time. I made a bee-line for the cabin on the lake, taking the girl with me. I arrived there last night——"
"How long were you on the way?" interrupted Helen suddenly.
"Four days."
"And Miskodeed was with you all the time?"
"Of course!" answered Ainley a trifle uneasily. "She was our guide."
"I see," answered Helen quietly. She made no further comment on the Indian girl, but she knew now that Ainley had departed from whatever truth there was in his narrative, for Miskodeed, on the sure evidence of her own eyes had been at the Indian encampment when he claimed she had been with him. She listened quietly whilst Ainley continued:
"As I was saying, I arrived in the neighbourhood of the cabin last night, to find you gone——"
"And Mr. Stane?" she asked almost breathlessly. "Did you find him? Did you see him?"
Ainley shook his head. "No, I did not see him myself, but one of my men turned a body over that was lying in the snow. It was that of a white man, who could be no other than Stane!"