“It would be a useless waste of time, sir, if you had,” Captain Rudstone interrupted, almost fiercely. “The characters are meaningless. I’ll warrant ’tis but a jest on the part of some crack-brained hunter or trapper, or possibly one of the laborers who built the fort. And surely we have more serious matters to think about!”
“Ay, that is true!” I assented, wondering meanwhile at the captain’s earnestness. “Cryptogram or not, we’ll leave it for wiser heads than ours! Come, reset the stone!”
Baptiste and Carteret lifted the fragments of the slab, and fitted them into place again. That done, I ceased to think of the mystery, and it was not subsequently referred to.
It was a great relief, after the hardships at the fort and the exposure of the long march, to have a shelter over us once more. The danger of pursuit was a specter that had faded behind us, and we counted on reaching Fort Charter at the end of another day’s journey. We found some rickety stools and benches, and drawing them around the roaring fire, we ate our simple meal with thankful hearts. Flora sat beside me, and I watched her lovely face, now pensive, now radiant with happiness and love, as the flickering glow of the flames played upon it. I held myself a lucky man to have won such a treasure.
But we were devouring almost the last of our food; indeed, when supper was finished nothing remained but a sack of cornmeal and half a pound of dried fish. It was necessary to provide for the next day, since we would march but poorly on empty stomachs and so we arranged a plan that we had partly settled on that morning.
The suggestion was mine. About five miles to the east, in a hilly and timbered bit of country, a spring bubbled up, so cold and swift that it never froze near its source. The deer and other game knew it, and came to the place by day and night to drink, and there I proposed to guide one or two of my companions.
“We are certain to be back before midnight,” I said, “for we can make the round trip in less than three hours. And I’ll promise venison for breakfast—or perhaps moose meat.”
“Will it be safe to use firearms?” asked Christopher Burley.
“I don’t think there is any risk,” I answered. “There are no Indian villages within many miles, and as for our old enemies, they are probably searching for us in the neighborhood of the trail to Fort York.”
To this Carteret and some of the other men assented. They were all eager to go with me.