Sasa shook his black head.
“No,” he said simply. “So he live. But I find some thing. Yes. I mak find cave. Oh, yes. It camp for man. I know him. It all mak clean not so as an Eskimo camp.”
He chuckled quietly. “Him all swep clean. So. An’ so.” He took his cap from his mane of hair and a sweeping gesture illustrated his words. “Maybe him camp this man. Oh, yes.” He returned his head-gear to its place. “I watch him. Long time. Yes. No. He not come. An’ bimeby I go. Yes.”
“That was the ‘some thing’?”
“Sure. An’—another some thing.”
“Ah.” McLagan’s tone was interested but he glanced away seawards. Then, quite abruptly, he indicated the house on the cliff. “We’ll get right back to home,” he said. “You can hand me your yarn as we go. You’ll have to get food right away. I’m beating into Beacon as soon as I’ve eaten. You’ll need to stop around this bay till I’m through an’ get back. Guess, since the Commissioner doesn’t kick, you can go right on collecting your junk till the beach is like a ship’s store. I don’t care a curse what you do so you don’t quit it. See? The fish can wait.”
McLagan’s journey into Beacon was made at his usual reckless speed. But unlike his usual habit he did not drive straight to the Plaza Hotel. It might have been expected that bearing such news as he was conveying to the city he would have sought out the one place whence its circulation would have been the most rapid. Then there was Claire. A wild desire was urging him to go straight to the square frame-built home that had now become almost the whole focus of his life. But he resisted it. For once in his life he entered the city almost secretly. His speed had been furious, and his ponies were well nigh tuckered out, as, in the wintry cool of the evening he drew up outside a remote livery barn that stood on the farthest outskirts of the city.
The man’s plans were clearly designed. There was no hesitation. There was no deviation from the line he had marked out for himself. It was dark when he turned his spent team over to the proprietor of the barn. He gave strict and minute instructions for the care of the weary beasts. Then he set out on foot, and the darkness swallowed him up.