Hickey has a feeling that Fitzjames isn't believing him. Which, that's to be expected. Why would Fitzjames? He's probably thinking that Hickey's vanished those bodies himself, claiming that they all disappeared while he uses them for his own dastardly deeds. Ridiculous. Hickey never thought of himself as dastardly, evil, all those things that he knows the rest of the men would lob at him. He's only thought of himself as a survivor.

"Yeah, the forest could explain one or two vanishing. But the actual number's probably closer to ten? Fifteen? Don't know for certain, all I know is it's been regular since I arrived here. A bear or a landslide can take out one or two people at once. It's less likely that it can take out fifteen people over the span of a year."

Hickey's keeping his tone light and conversational. If Fitzjames doesn't believe him, then that's his own problem. But Hickey knows what he's talking about.