For a full minute Rod stood as motionless as if he had been paralyzed,
scarcely breathing in his excitement. The four fingers and thumb of
the hand had left their impressions with startling clearness. The
fingers were long and delicately slender, the palm narrow. The imprint
had assuredly not been made by the hand of a man!

Recovering himself, Rod looked about him. There were no marks in the
snow except those of the bear. Was it possible that he was mistaken?
He scrutinized the mysterious handprint again. As he gazed an uncanny
chill crept through him, and when he raised his head he knew that he
was trembling in spite of his efforts to control himself. Turning
about he swiftly followed the trail to the top of the ridge, recrossed
the sledge track, and descended again into the wildness of the gorge
on the other side. He had not progressed twenty rods when without a
sound he dropped behind a rock. He had seen no movement ahead of him.
He had heard nothing. Yet in that moment he was thrilled as never
before in his life.

For the bear trail had ceased.

And ahead of him, instead of the tracks of a beast, there continued
_the footprints of a man_!




CHAPTER V