“That’s the rock!” exclaimed Jamie.  “That’s sure he!  I’ll look at un for signs, and then if there’s any signs to be seen about un I’ll call Seth!”

Jamie ran through the trees and brush to the rock, which proved, indeed, to be a landmark.  It stood alone, and was twice as high as Jamie’s head.

Here he was treated to another thrill.  On the west side of the rock was the charred wood of a recent camp fire.  A tent had been pitched near at hand, as was evidenced by the still unwithered boughs that had formed a bed, and discarded tent pegs, and there were many axe cuttings.

“’Twere white men and not Injuns that camped here,” reasoned Jamie.  “All the Injun fires I ever heard tell about were made smaller than this un.  And these folk were pilin’ up stones on the side.  No Injuns or Bay folk does that, whatever!”

Jamie continued to investigate.

“‘Twere not Bay folk did the axe cuttin’ either,” he decided.  “All the Bay folk and Injuns uses small axes when they travels, and this cuttin’ were done with big uns!”

Looking about the rock he found other evidences that the campers had been strangers to the country.  There was a piece of a Halifax newspaper, an empty bottle, and a small tin can containing matches.  The box of matches he put into his pocket.  They had been lost or overlooked, and no hunter of the Bay or Indian would ever have been guilty of such carelessness.  Of this Jamie had no question.

“‘Tis sure the rock the writin’ tells about,” he commented.

Jamie looked a little farther, and then suddenly realizing that he should not wait too long before calling, shouted lustily: 

“Seth, I finds un!  Seth!  Seth!  I finds the rock!”

He waited a moment for Seth’s answering call, but there was no response.  A much longer time had elapsed during Jamie’s examination of the rock and the surroundings than he realized, and in the meantime Seth and the others had passed on, and Seth was now in a deeply wooded gully where Jamie’s shouts failed to reach him.

“Seth!  Seth!  I finds un!  I finds the place!” he shouted again, but still there was no response from Seth.

“I’m thinkin’ now Seth has gone too far to hear,” said Jamie to himself. “’Twould be fine to find Lem’s silver all alone and take un back to camp.  I’ll just do what the writin’ says.  I’ll pace up the places.  I can do un all by myself, and ’twill be a fine surprise to un all to take the silver back to camp.”

Jamie had no doubt that the mysterious cache contained the stolen fox pelt.  No thought of disappointment in this or of danger to himself entered his head.  His whole mind was centred upon one point.  He would be the hero of the Bay if, quite alone, he succeeded in recovering Lem’s property and at the same time in clearing Indian Jake of suspicion.

Without further delay he drew from his pocket the carefully folded copy of directions that Doctor Joe had given him and sat down to study it.