“How did he find out that we are stopping here for the present with Raoul?”
“One of our men seen a dog team come up here early yesterday morning. Govereau thought it might be you, so he sent me over to find out.”
For a few minutes Watson lay, staring about him, apparently quite oblivious of his surroundings. He paid no attention to the last question put to him. Finally he turned his head, his gaze meeting Dick’s squarely.
“You fellows are in a mighty bad position, if you want to know it,” he suddenly blurted out. “There ain’t one chance in ten thousand that you’ll ever get through alive. Your only hope is to go back to the place you come from.”
“I’m not asking you for advice,” said Dick angrily.
“Jes’ the same, I’m tellin’ yuh. I wouldn’t take the whole of upper Canada to be a standin’ in your shoes just now. You’re only a kid an’ don’t realize how bad a mess you’re in.”
Sandy strode forward and put a hand on Dick’s shoulder.
“No use to bother with him, Dick,” he exclaimed in disgust. “We’re just wasting time. He’d keep us talking here all night. Our best plan is to get out of here as quickly as possible. Govereau may be along any time to find out what has happened to him.”
“I think same, too,” Toma cut in. “What you say I hitch up huskies, and we start right away?”
“I guess you’re right. We can’t any more than lose our way in the dark, and we’ve been lost before.”
“But what are we going to do with him?” Sandy wondered, pointing at their prisoner.
“We’ll have to leave him here with Raoul,” Dick replied. Then he turned to Toma’s friend.
“Do you object?” he asked. “You can release him sometime tomorrow. That will give us a chance to be well on our way before Govereau learns what has become of us.”
“All right, me keep ’em big fellow in bed. Bye an’ bye feed him with spoon like little baby. How you like that?” he asked, turning to Watson.
The only reply from the man in the bunk was a snort of rage as he twisted to one side and glared helplessly about him.
The lonely journey through the dark proved to be not nearly as difficult as Dick had expected. An hour after their departure from Toma’s cabin, the little party emerged from the shelter of spruce and pine, skirting the river, and drove forth upon a comparatively open prairie, piled high with drifts.