Colina did some rapid thinking.  She doubted whether Germain Grampierre after having been warned by the police would go with her to the other village.

She quickly decided that she didn’t want him with her anyway, worthy, stupid fellow that he was.  Yet he had constituted himself her protector, and he would hardly let her go without him.  It did not promise to be easy to hoodwink both Plaskett and Grampierre.

What she was going to do when she found Nesis, Colina did not stop to consider.  The thing to do was to find the girl, and trust to pluck and mother wit for the rest.

Colina finally thought she saw her way clear.  She asked Marya if she would meet her in an hour on the Enterprise trail outside of camp.  It was now three o’clock.

Marya, with her eyes upon the opal, nodded.  She gave Colina to understand that she would be waiting at a place where the trail crossed a stream, and climbed to a little prairie with thick bushes around it.

Leaving Marya, Colina returned to the police tents.  Climbing the hill, she had the satisfaction upon looking back to see that the Indian girl had foresaken her moose-hide.

The edge of the bush was near her:  it would not be hard for her to lose herself.  Simulating an air of discouragement, Colina told Sergeant Plaskett she had learned nothing and signified her willingness to return to Enterprise.

“I’d start at once,” she said suggestively, “but my horses are tired.”

Plaskett was greatly relieved.  “I’ll furnish you with fresh horses,” he said instantly.  “Let your horses stay here and rest up.  I’ll send them in with the first patrol, and you can then return mine.”

This was what Colina desired.  She smiled on the policeman dazzlingly.

Plaskett sent a trooper for the horses, and himself escorted Colina back to the spot at the foot of the hill where she had ordered the Grampierres and Cora to wait for her.

She told Germain the same story.  The half-breed who had been interviewed by Plaskett in the meantime, was delighted by her resolve to return.  He instantly set to work to pack up.

In less than half an hour they started for home.  As they mounted the hill, Plaskett gallantly waved his cap from below.  The bush swallowed them.  Colina was thinking:  “What shall I do if she is afraid, and doesn’t come?”

However, less than a mile from the river, they forded a little brook, climbed a shallow hill, and there, true to her agreement, waited Marya, standing like a statue beside the trail.

Colina, making believe to be greatly astonished, dismounted, and drew her apart.  Marya, understanding from her glance of intelligence that the others were not in the secret, gesticulated vividly for their benefit.

“She tells me she knows where Nesis is hidden,” Colina said to Germain.  “She says she will take me there.”

“We will go back,” said Germain.