Lisle opened the letters handed him and managed to read them, though their condition fully bore out Crestwick's description. Two or three were on business matters, but there was one from Millicent, and he started at the first few lines. "Miss Gladwyne and Miss Hume have sailed--they must have landed a week ago," he announced. "She wants to go over the ground her brother traversed--you have heard of that project. Nasmyth sailed a week earlier to arrange matters at this end; but I don't know how Miss Hume will get along." "It's merely a question of transport," asserted Crestwick with the air of an authority on the subject. "So long as you provide sufficient packers, with relays from supply bases, you can travel in comparative comfort, though it's expensive." Then an idea occurred to him. "They're pretty sure to run across Bella; Miss Gladwyne knows Carew." Lisle sat silent a few minutes, conscious of a strong satisfaction. Millicent was in Canada, and there was no mention of Gladwyne! Then it struck him as curious that Bella should have come over at the same time. As Millicent knew Carew, it was very probable that Bella would insist on joining the expedition, which Millicent might agree to, if, as seemed likely, her rather elderly companion had to be left behind. Nasmyth had, no doubt, already reached British Columbia; and it looked as if those indirectly brought together by George Gladwyne's tragic death would be reunited at the scene of it. This was, Lisle reflected, merely the result of a natural sequence of events, but there was for all that something strangely significant about it. "Well," he said, "it has been arranged that I'm to act as guide, and Miss Gladwyne says they'll wait for me. As that's the case, I don't see why I shouldn't start as soon as Carsley gets through. I shouldn't wonder if he brings a letter from Nasmyth. It will be a tough journey, and I'll have to break a new trail. Are you coming, or will you head for Vancouver to join Bella?" "We'll stick together," replied the lad. "Bella's to stay over here some months, and if she decides to join Miss Gladwyne she'll leave Glacier long before I could reach the place." Lisle rose and shook out his pipe. "Then," he responded, "I'll take a look around, and you had better start off the first thing to-morrow and hurry those castings on. There's a good deal to be done if we're to get away when Carsley turns up." CHAPTER XXV A RELIABLE MAN