Part 30 (1/2)
”No, sir! That's a sure thing. But wait a minute. I think I see!”
Carnally lighted his pipe before he resumed: ”Now, you want to remember that we're up against a clever man. He didn't mean us to find the food but he'd see that there was a chance of our getting through without it and try to fix things so Allinson wouldn't have much ground for making trouble. So he sent the supplies up.”
”Then where are they?” Andrew broke in.
”Let me finish. I guess there was n.o.body else about when you told him where to make the cache?”
Andrew nodded, and Carnally went on:
”You said the east Whitefish, and he sent the truck to the west fork.
It's a point where one might go wrong, and he'll claim that he misunderstood you and you didn't make your instructions clear.”
”I believe you're right!” Andrew had a savage glitter in his eyes.
”But the brute's cold-blooded cunning is devilis.h.!.+ He meant to starve us to death because I threatened his contract!”
”That's not all. Mappin's dirt mean, but I guess he has a stronger count against you.”
”Ah!” said Andrew sharply, as a light dawned on him. ”I wonder whether you have hit the mark?”
In spite of the peril to which he was exposed he felt a thrill of satisfaction. It looked as if Mappin, whom he suspected of seeking Geraldine's favor, had some ground for believing him a successful rival. Perhaps the girl had inadvertently betrayed a preference for him. Mappin would not be driven into a risky course by impulse; he must have believed his jealousy well-founded. This was comforting; but Andrew had now to consider how he and his comrades were to escape from their difficulties.
”Couldn't we get across to the west fork?” he suggested.
”We'll try,” said Carnally. ”It's a rough bit of country.”
”Very rough,” Graham agreed. ”A low range with steep rock on this side runs through it. I've no doubt Mappin knew that when he decided to make the cache on the other fork.”
”Then suppose we can't get over?”
Carnally looked thoughtful.
”If that's so, we'll push on for the second cache.”
They looked at him in astonishment and he smiled. ”The cache is there--somewhere about the neck you told him of--though I guess he'll have had it put where we won't find it easily. Anyhow, it will have to be found and, when it comes to bush work, my head's as good as Mappin's.”
Andrew made a gesture of a.s.sent. Apart from his knowledge of the wilds, Carnally had shown a power of close and accurate reasoning which had surprised him. Indeed, Andrew was inclined to think him a match for Mappin all round, and was glad of it, because there was no doubt that he needed a keen-witted supporter.
”There's another thing,” Carnally remarked presently ”Has it struck you that Hathersage may have given the hog a hint?”
Andrew flushed.
”No,” he said sternly. ”It's unthinkable! I can't discuss the point.”
”Oh, well,” acquiesced Carnally. ”Now that we've decided what to do, we'd better get to sleep. We have to look for a way across the range the first thing to-morrow.”
At noon the next day Andrew stood, breathless, half-way up a gully filled with hard snow. Walls of ice-glazed rock shut it in, but it led straight up the face of a towering crag toward an opening high above.
Andrew carried a thick, sharp-pointed stick with which he had laboriously broken holes for his feet, because soft moccasins are treacherous things on a steep snow-slope. He and Carnally had spent half an hour over the ascent, and Andrew, looking up with a sinking heart, thought it would take them as long to reach the summit, provided they could avoid slipping, which was doubtful.
The gully lay in shadow, a long, deep rent, widening toward the bottom, in which the snow gleamed a soft blue-gray, though a ray of sunlight struck the beetling crag so that it flashed with steely brightness. Here and there a spur of rock broke the smooth surface and offered a resting-place, but some of the s.p.a.ces between them seemed dangerously precipitous. Andrew, worn with hunger and fatigue, frowned at the sight.
”This looked the quickest way up and we haven't much time to lose,”