I'm not sure that we're not close on the Somasco valley." Seaforth made a last effort, but his fingers lost their grasp, and when he slipped forward again his paddle slid away behind them.

Then he groaned a little, and lay still in the bottom of the canoe.

The next thing he was clearly conscious of was the ringing of a rifle and he raised himself as the woods flung back the sound.

They seemed some distance from him now, and the moon shone down on a broadening strip of water.

Again the rifle flashed, and he wondered vacantly whether the twinkle that perplexed his hazy sight could be lights that blinked at them.
"Where have we got to, Tom ?" he said.
Okanagan laughed softly.