Nevertheless, by the testimony trampled in the snow, he had learned with certainty that she was the only woman who had approached anywhere near the scene of tragedy.

She had told her story glibly enough, but at the same time her recent actions were not above suspicion. She had tried desperately hard to get away, and now that he had caught her it was clear enough that she was afraid of him—a representative of the law. Even at this moment there was something in her nervous, half-defiant manner to warn him that she would escape at the very first opportunity.

While she was talking he had listened for some tone or inflection that might remind him of the voice he had heard a while back in the cabin. The other voice, however, had carried to him muffled and distorted by thick walls, and he could not really say whether he had detected any resemblance.

"What are you doing here in the wilderness?" he asked the girl after a lengthy interval.

For several seconds she stood silent, and he had a feeling that she was thinking fast, trying to invent a plausible answer. "Are the police in the habit of cross-examining everybody?" she inquired at length. "Isn't this government land, and aren't people allowed to come and go as they please in the forests?"

He regarded her with steady eyes, showing no sign of impatience. "Who brought you here?" he asked. "You never could have come across these mountains alone."

She made a gesture with her hands, almost impudent, altogether evasive. "You see me," she said. "Am I not alone?"

With a slight shrug Dexter gave up his efforts to extract information from her. Whoever she might be, she was a resolute, quick-witted young woman, and apparently, she was ready to go to any lengths to prevent his finding out more about her than she wanted him to know. He bore her no malice. She had a right to preserve her secrets if she could. It was the business of the Minister of Justice to coerce unwilling witnesses, and the corporal, for his part, had no intention of browbeating any girl.

"I should have warned you," he said presently.

"Warned me?" she asked, her head held high. "What about?"

"The police are supposed to caution prospective prisoners against too much talking." He smiled dryly and reached into his pocket for a pipe and tobacco pouch. "I must advise you not to say 

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