Since the night in his shack, when the fellow was sick, I've wondered why Strange's canoe capsized.

Strange was a clever _voyageur_; so's Black Steve." Father Lucien looked at him curiously and there was a hint of shrinking in his eyes.

"I cannot tell; perhaps we shall never know! But if there was foul play, what would Driscoll gain ?" "It's hard to see," Thirlwell agreed.

"I could understand it if Steve had afterwards staked a claim, but nobody has found the ore yet.

There's another curious thing; I don't see what he'd gain by leaving you to starve, as I think he meant to do." "No," said Father Lucien sharply, "that is impossible! Besides, Driscoll was trapping some distance off." "A white man stood looking down at you and then stole away, although he saw you had no camp outfit," Thirlwell insisted.
"He may have been short of food and came to borrow.