254 A DILIGENT SEARCH. 



puzzled, and even old Jake could not offer a probable 

 explanation of the mystery. The banks on either side 

 of the Athabasca had been keenly scrutinized, but with- 

 out result ; and at length, after many hours of weary 

 walking, the hunters halted, hungry and utterly worn 

 out, without having discovered the least clue to guide 

 their further search. 



" Queerest thing this coon seed yet," remarked Jake. 

 " The thing must be over water somewheres, an' it'll be 

 hard lines, but we'll find it." 



"Do you think it possible, Jake," asked Gaultier, 

 " that the raft has gone up stream ? We have now 

 searched at least fifteen miles from where we camped 

 last night, and it is very unlikely that in such a dis- 

 tance the raft would not have drifted against either 

 bank and been retained somewhere." 



" This child wur thinkin' o' that very sarcumstance," 

 answered the old hunter ; " but how cud the thing go 

 up agin the river ? That's the diffeeculty, I guess." 



" It is quite out of the question," said Pierre, " that 

 the raft could have gone up-stream, barring Indians, 

 and Jake thinks Indians have had nothing to do with 

 its disappearance." 



"Wai, I dunno; it cudn't hev gone up-stream 

 edzactly," answered the trapper, " an' I'll tell yer why. 

 When I fust sot up trappin', I hed as fine a canoe as 

 iver ye sot eyes on ; and one fine mornin' thur wa'n't a 

 sign o' it to be seed, though I searched the hull Willa- 

 mette valley fur thirty miles below whur I'd been 



