When the sun was an hour high the travellers suddenly ran into a trail, which as suddenly dived into a spruce thicket. On the other side of it Thorpe unexpectedly found himself in an extensive clearing, dotted with the blackened stumps of pines. Athwart the distance he could perceive the wide blue horizon of Lake Michigan. He had crossed the Upper Peninsula on foot!
“Boat come by to-day,” said Injin Charley, indicating the tall stacks of a mill. “Him no stop. You mak' him stop take you with him. You get train Mackinaw City tonight. Dose men, dey on dat train.”
Thorpe calculated rapidly. The enemy would require, even with their teams, a day to cover the thirty miles to the fishing village of Munising, whence the stage ran each morning to Seney, the present terminal of the South Shore Railroad. He, Thorpe, on foot and three hours behind, could never have caught the stage. But from Seney only one train a day was despatched to connect at Mackinaw City with the Michigan Central, and on that one train, due to leave this very morning, the up-river man was just about pulling out. He would arrive at Mackinaw City at four o'clock of the afternoon, where he would be forced to wait until eight in the evening. By catching a boat at the mill to which Injin Charley had led him, Thorpe could still make the same train. Thus the start in the race for Detroit's Land Office would be fair.
“All right,” he cried, all his energy returning to him. “Here goes! We'll beat him out yet!”
“You come back?” inquired the Indian, peering with a certain anxiety into his companion's eyes.
“Come back!” cried Thorpe. “You bet your hat!”
“I wait,” replied the Indian, and was gone.
“Oh, Charley!” shouted Thorpe in surprise. “Come on and get a square meal, anyway.”
But the Indian was already on his way back to the distant Ossawinamakee.
Thorpe hesitated in two minds whether to follow and attempt further persuasion, for he felt keenly the interest the other had displayed. Then he saw, over the headland to the east, a dense trail of black smoke. He set off on a stumbling run towards the mill.