It might be taken as a certainty that he had not plunged into such a
desperate venture without having a plan well worked out beforehand.
Elliot had a high grade of intelligence. Would they try to reach the
coast and make their get-away to Seattle? Or would they dig themselves
in till the heavy snows were past and come back to civilization with the
story of a lucky strike to account for the gold they brought with them?
Neither gold-dust nor nuggets could be identified. There would be no way
of proving the story false. The only evidence against them would be that
they had left at Kusiak and this was merely of a corroborative kind.
There would be no chance of convicting them upon it.
But to strike for Seattle was to throw away all pretense of innocence.
Fugitives from justice, they would have to disappear from sight in order
to escape. The hunt for them would continue until at last they were
unearthed.
One fork of the road led to comparative safety; the other went by
devious windings to the penitentiary and perhaps the gallows. The
Scotchman put himself in the place of the men he was trailing. Given
the same conditions, he knew which path he would follow.
Macdonald took the trail that led down to the river, to the distant
gold-creeks which offered a refuge from man-hunters in many a deserted
cabin marooned by the deep snows.
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