Nor had the owners been gone long.

Besides the fire to prove it, clothing was hanging on hooks in the wall, and there was food in the cupboard.
Captain Markham sighed.
"Again they're afraid of us," he said.

"I've no doubt the signal has been passed ahead of us, and that we'll not get within speaking distance of a single native.

Curious, too, because this region in the main is for the North." "Perhaps somebody has been robbing and plundering in our name," said Dick.

"Skelly and his raiders have been through these parts." "That's so," said Markham, thoughtfully.