There was an uneasy gleam in his eyes.

“I must tie your hands, M’seur.”

“But I have given you my word, Jean—­”

“Your hands, M’seur.  There is already death below us in the plain, or it is to come very soon.  I must tie your hands.”

Howland thrust his wrists behind him and about them Jean twisted a thong of babeesh.

“I believe I understand,” he spoke softly, listening again for the chilling wail from the mountain top.  “You are afraid that I will kill you.”

“It is a warning, M’seur.  You might try.  But I should probably kill you.  As it is—­” he shrugged his shoulders as he led the way down the ridge—­“as it is, there is small chance of Jean Croisset answering the call.”

“May those saints of yours preserve me, Jean, but this is all very cheerful!” grunted Howland, half laughing in spite of himself.  “Now that I’m tied up again, who the devil is there to die—­but me?”

“That is a hard question, M’seur,” replied the half-breed with grim seriousness.  “Perhaps it is your turn.  I half believe that it is.”

Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when there came again the moaning howl from the top of the ridge.

“You’re getting on my nerves, Jean—­you and that accursed dog!”

“Silence, M’seur!”

Out of the grim loneliness at the foot of the mountain there loomed a shadow which at first Howland took to be a huge mass of rock.  A few steps farther and he saw that it was a building.  Croisset gripped him firmly by the arm.

“Stay here,” he commanded.  “I will return soon.”

For a quarter of an hour Howland waited.  Twice in that interval the dog howled above him.  He was glad when Croisset appeared out of the gloom.

“It is as I thought, M’seur.  There is death down here.  Come with me!”

The shadow of the big building shrouded them as they approached.  Howland could make out that it was built of massive logs and that there seemed to be neither door nor window on their side.  And yet when Jean hesitated for an instant before a blotch of gloom that was deeper than the others, he knew that they had come to an entrance.  Croisset advanced softly, sniffing the air suspiciously with his thin nostrils, and listening, with Howland so close to him that their shoulders touched.  From the top of the mountain there came again the mournful death-song of old Woonga, and Jean shivered.  Howland stared into the blotch of gloom, and still staring he followed Croisset—­entered—­and disappeared in it.  About them was the stillness and the damp smell of desertion.  There was no visible sign of life, no breathing, no movement but their own, and yet Howland could feel the half-breed’s hand clutch him nervously by the arm as they went step by step into the black and silent mystery of the place.  Soon there came a fumbling of Croisset’s hand at a latch and they passed through a second door.  Then Jean struck a match.