He could not repress a laugh, bitter and filled with disappointment, as he thought how fate was playing against him.

If he had not overslept he would have caught up with the sledges before they separated, if he had not forced himself into this assignment it was possible that Isobel and her father would have come to him.

They knew that his detachment was at Prince Albert--and they were going south.

He had little doubt but that they were striking for Nelson House, and from Nelson House to civilization there was but one trail, that which led to Le Pas and Etomami.

And Etomami was but two hours by rail from Prince Albert.
He carried in his breast pocket a bit of written information which he had obtained from the Churchill factor--that helped to soften, in a way, the sting of his disappointment.