IN QUEST OF TREASURE 41 



have awakened him and he would have answered, but that now 

 they had best search the island. 



So they divided into two parties and searched the shore in 

 different directions until they finally met on the other side, 

 then they scattered and examined every nook and corner of the 

 place — but all in vain. Some now contended that the others 

 were mistaken, and that that could not be the island on which 

 the Brother had been working; but The Bear — though he had 

 not seen the cripple there — insisted that it was. They asked 

 him to prove it. 



"The wind has been blowing steadily from the north," 

 rephed The Bear, "the other islands are all south of this one, 

 and you know that we found his canoe adrift south of here 

 and north of all the other islands. That is sufiicient proof." 

 Then he added: "The reason Simpson's Brother did not 

 answer is because he is not on the island, but in the water." 



Again they all clamoured for proof and The Bear answered: 

 "But first I must find where he landed, and the quickest way to 

 find that place is to remember that the wind was blowing too 

 strong for him to land on the north shore, and that the running 

 swells were too strong for him to land on either the east or west 

 sides, therefore he landed on the south side — the sheltered side. 

 Now let us go and see where he drew up his canoe." 



But one of the others argued that that would be impossible 

 as Simpson's Brother was not such a fool as to act hke a white 

 man and drag his canoe over the rocks. The Bear, however, 

 persisted that there would be some sign, at least where the bow 

 touched shore when the cripple got out, and that he, The Bear, 

 would go and find it. But first he would go and examine the 

 nests to learn from which of them the cripple had removed the 

 eggs. Thus they would learn where he had been working; and 

 the finding of the landing place would be made easier. So The 

 Bear set to work. From the empty nests he soon learned 

 where the cripple had been working, and after a careful search 



