The evening world. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 1914-02-16
X M By Hesketh Prichard

90 10000
Then which way do You think The
murderer has nsd T.
Can't say" said he. and. any.
by this"
will you try and follow himf"
mo. not yet. must md out some
thing about him hrst. But. lovk here,
mister, there's one fact you haven't
given much weight to. This shooting
was premsditAtsd. The murderer know
that LyoA would camp here. The
chances are . hundred to one against
their havtne met BY accident. The
chap that killed him followed him
downstream. Now, suppose can md
1yon's last camp. ! may learn soius-
thing more. II can't be very far on.
for he had . tidy sissd pack to carry,
besides those green skins, which load
cd him . bit. And. anyway. IT'S my
only chance"
SO We cot out upon our walk No.
vember soon picked up Lyons trail.
leading from Big Tree Portage to .
due west between the aisies OF the
forest. From midday on through the
whole Of the afternoon We travelled.
Squirrels chartered and Missed at Us
from the spruces. hardwood /, part
ridges drummed In the clearines and
once q red deer buck bounded across
our path with it, white nag waving
and dipping a. II was swallowed up
In the sun. specked orange and red
Lyons trail was. fortunately. easy
to follow. and II was only where. at
long intervals. paths from the north
or south broke into the main logging
road that November had reason to
pause. But one by one We passed
these by. until at last the tracks va
were following shot away among tho
trees, and after . milo OF deadfalls
and moss debouched into q little
clearing beside u backwater grown
round with high yellow grass and
surface with Mly-psds.
The trail. after leading along the
margin OF this water. struck back to
. higher reach OF tho same river that
ran by BIG Tree Portage. and then
We were at once on the site OF the
deserted camp.
The very first thing my eye iit
upon caused me to cry out In excite
men,, 70. side By side were two beds
OF balsam branches that had evil
IDENTIFY been placed under the shelter
Of the sane tent cover. November.
'uvu' Wes S'But' Lynn hhu CaWpou
with some one on the night before
he died.
1 called out 70 him. Ills quiet pa
thence and an attitude a. II rather Dc.
tached from events fell away from
him like . cloak. and with almost
uncanny swiftnesR no was making
his examination or the camp.
I entirely believe that he was un-
conscious Of my presence. 10 concen-
trated was he on his work a. I fol-
lowed him from spot to spot with an
interest and excitement that no form
Of big game shooting has ever given
me. Now. man was the quarry. and.
40 Il seemed, . man more dangerous
to disappointment, for. a. far - I
could see. Joe discovered neither clue
nor anything unusual.
To begin with he took up and siftsd
through the layers OF balsam boughs
which had composed the beds. but
apparently made no md. From them
he turned quickly TO kneel down BY
tho ashy remains OF the firo. and TO
examine tbS charrcd logs one by one.
After that he followed wsll-marksd
trail that led away from the lake to
small marsh In the further part Of
which masts Of dad timber were
standing In great profusion. Nearer
1t hand Q number Of stumps showed
whore the campers had chopped the
wood for their IRE.
After looking closely at these
stumps. November went swiftly back
minutes In following the tracks which
led In all directions. Thcn once mora
he came back to the fire and metho1l-
cally lifted OF one charred stick after
another. At the time l could not
imagine why he did this. but when
understood II tho reason was ~
simple and obvious a. was that OF his
every action when once II was OF.
planned
Before men leave camp they seem
70 throw such TRIES %
they do not require Or wish to carry
on with them In the hrs, which 10
generally expiring. tor . nrst axiom
of the true camper In the woods y
never to leave his hrs alight behind
him. In case Of . chance smber start
ing . forest confiagration.
In this case November had. taken
or nearly every bit OF wood before I
heard him utter . smothsred sx-
clamation - hs held up . piece Of
stick.
took Il into my own hands ana
looked It over. II was charrsd, but
saw that one end had been split and
the other end sharpened.
what In the world 10 ~" asked.
pusxlsd.
November smiled. Just evidence"
he answered.
was glad he had at last found
something to 20 upon. for. % far. The
camp had appeared to produce par.
little that was suggos-
tive. Nsverthslsss. I did not Sc how
this little bit OF spruce. orudsly fash
Toned and split ~ It was. would lead
us very far.
November spent another few min
utes In looking everything over q Sec
ond time, then he took up his AKA
and split couple Of logs and III tho
IRE. Over II he hung his inevitable
kettle and boiled UP the leaves OF our
morning brew with q liberal handful
freshly added.
"Well." ! said. a. he touched the end
OF . burning ember TO his pipe, has
this camp helped your
Some" said November. And your
He put the question quite seriously,
though I suspect not without some
inward irony.
II can see that two men slept under
one tent cover. that they cut the wood
for their FIRE In that marsh we wMted.
and that they were here for . day.
perhapa two"