A MYSTERY EXPLAINED. 
197 
" And your father ? " 
" He died many years ago." 
Have you heard from the long-bearded medicme- 
man ? " 
Peeschee could not repress another shudder. He simply 
said, " No." 
" But how do you know this map starts at Fort Yukon , 
as you said ? " 
" Because that," pointing, ^' is what the Indians make for 
fort. That is a big wigwam, with smoke going up. You 
have seen the big chimneys that made the smoke. The 
next year the fort was burned." 
" You think, then, that the medicine-man knew of the 
mountain, through his old parchments, or skins, as you 
call them ; and that he made this map himself ? " 
" Yes," and Peeschee nodded several times vigorously. 
" But why did the Ayans want to burn the fort?" 
' The medicine-men of all the tribes drove them to do 
it. They told the Ayans the white men would take away 
their trade in skins. They were mad because the white 
men brought good medicines, that cured sick Indians 
better than their own." 
And do you suppose your long-bearded friend ever 
visited the fort before it was burned ? " 
" Yes. The tribe lived on the Ayan River, just above 
the fort." 
The j^.yan — that's the river called Pelly now," mused 
the lieutenant. " I hope John and the boys won't get 
