The evening world. Newspaper, February 16, 1916, Page 13

By Bertran BRIG wachehenothckcaas CHAPTER VI. (Continued) The Driftof the Caribou Herds. OT on your life!” Jule snort- ed, when Dick innocently I Proposed that we make camp and ite up till the storm abated. “There won't be any lot-up, This is winter. We ‘want to get across the lake before the slush-ice freezes, or the Lord knows how long we might have to wait before it would be safe to cross with dog-teams. Sabe? As long as we can use thé boats, we stay with ‘em, storm or no stor You'll find it a pretty ‘tough proposition to waller along on snow-shoos all day, breakin’ trail for dogs.” Buck grinned cheerfully. "Jule wants to make yuh think you're strictly up against it,” he chuckled. ‘I've been up and down the Peace and Athabasca both, on snow-shoes, Tt ain't @ killin’ trip.” Nevertheless, we paddled down “The Path of Toil” as though the devil him- self were at our heels. In truth, be- tween the devil and the weather that presently came upon ts Satan would have been the more welcome of the two. Ice caked upon gunwale and paddies and invested our bows with fantastic figureheads as we slipped along between misty, snow-enshroud- ed banks; it formed in great chunks on our mustaches, tili Dick Morton swore like a longshoreman, and How and I dn desperation took Buck's amused advice and haggled ours off with @ pair of dull shears. The dogs, bred in the North and thick of fur, alone viewed the situation philosoph foally. Everything was ice or frost, or buried under the ubiquitou: enow—everything but the namelet of black water that surged |) patiently along {ts channel, burryi: to lose itself in Great Slave Lake. Dven it waa slowly yielding fealty to the frost-god; inch by Inch ice that would bear a man grew out from either shore. A few more degrees of cold, and the black, hurrying streak would be shut away, to gurgie in an icy prison for many changes of the moon. But while the snow continued to ‘come, whirling down, and the skies were hidden behind fold upon fold of ®ullen clouds, the keener frosts held ff, and we were enabled to Ly Slave Lake and cross The Neck; belt @ perilous undertaking, for the dake was a wallow of slush ice. The crossing ended our journey by boat, Twenty-four hours later the svind hushed, the deep-banked clouds broke and scattered, and with a pale sun glimmering coldly in # steel-bluc sky the bitter winter set. its ¢grim teeth for a six months’ hold. Wherefore our troubles speedily be- fan, We transferred our outfit to the flat-bottomed toboggans we had brought many a mile for that very purpose, leaving the boats to the ten- der mercies of the wild: rigged our dog harness and set forth. For three of us the next few days brought many new aches, In time we mastered the swinging stride of snow-shoers, and could hold our own with Buck and Jule, But in the beginning-— So our progress was necessarily slow, what of loose yw and green cogs, and our personal struggle with the man-made, seven-league boots of the North, Until the lake froze solidly, obviat ing the danger of weak spots and holes, Jule led us through the woods. ‘rhe fourth day, by way of the dog- trail--which was a trail we broke vith much language I'd hate to seo in print—we made an evening camp in the edge of a stretch of ridsy epruce-patched Jand, perhaps two iilles across. While the rest of 1s cleared a space for the tent and built # rousing fire. Howe took bis gun and went @ hunting, Rabbits swarm in the brush back there, and when Jarger game failed to come our way, wo slaughtered them by the dozen for dog food. The long twilight had faded into a ghostly gray, and our stovepipe was beiching a steady blue column when Howo came in with @ furry load across his shoulders, Buck went out to help keep peaco among the dogs while they were being i} and about a minute. Howe called to usi softly, yet with a touch of eagerness in his tone. “Dick! Tommy!" look here, will you?” We slipped out, wondering what he might have to show us. Buck was staring intently, a rabbit suspended in each hand, On a@ little rise to the north, not more than two hundred yards distant, and lmned clearly against the crescent of pale sky that lingered in the northwest, stood the bulky figure of a man, We caught a bare glimpse of him, for he turned and went rapidly out of sight behind the snow-banked ridge as we issued from the tent. But though we could not see his features, the ponderous waddle of him and his hasty retreat Jett no doubts in our minds as to his identity, cj Buck threw @* two rabbits to the wrangling musmes, and had recourse to a plug of very black chewing tobacco, “and “atan appeared also,” he sald reflectively, that mishe- gotten skunk ain't nosin’ round here for his health, I'll just take a lool de uh that ridge, for eo sald, “Take a luck, Wasn't he nervy, though? Buck _ pick his Winchester, hooked his toes under the loops of his snow-shoes, and struck out, Howe grabbed his rifle and followed him { stanter; and Dick and [ would have sone likewise, but for Jule's remon- wtance, “Hold on," he expostulated, “No use for all of us to go. Maybe that Jasper means mischief, and 0 he const oa on ate egy poor Policy to leave this camp take Tare ot ftaelt Sul ing was correct. Grant- . reasonii ed that the Ape's object in spying on our camp was to observe the chances for annexing some of our goods, we could hardly give him a better op- Portunity than to leave camp in a body. In any case, Buck and Howe could see all that might be seen, and even if the Ape was minded to re- sent being followed a short distance, Buck Harrison and Carter Howe Would be an ugly team to tackle. So we stood outside the tent, watching for developments, and contenting our- selves with calling to them not to go too far. They gained the rise whenee the Ape had vanished, stood a moment, then disappeared beyond. Presently they came in sight again on tha crest of another ridge. After a short aur- vey they went on, following the ndge to the west. Somewhere in the dis- tance a stiot sounded distinct but way, like the gnap of a frosted branch. Buck and Howe dodged, and got off the exposed ridge without fur- ther dallying, making their way post- haste to camp. “Well, yuh found that Jasper would shoot when yuh crowd him, did yuh?” Jule greeted ironically, “Maybe yuh thought he'd ask yuh down to his camp for supper.” “Aw, dry up, Peace River,” Buck retorted, “This aint no joshin’ affair. ‘That red-muzzied cuss is camped over yonder with a whole blamed didn't us. “Did you hear that shot? The bullet Kicked up tke snow right at our feet. It was one of the noble red men who qhecked our advance; we stw nothing of our friend the Ape.’ “No, but he’s there, yuh bet your Ife,” Inle asserte: and the French- man atn't far aw: “Oh, well, whi the odds?” Howe laughed. ‘There's plenty of room in this country for all of us. Let's have supper, That's the most important thing just now." Supper over, Buck and Jule quietly drew the toboggans across the tent front and stacked upon them every- thing movable about camp. That done, they proceeded to tie a dog to each’ guy-rope of the tent, so that we were the centre of a canine guard. And when Buck lay down on his blankets he smiled whimsically at Howe, who had mockingly derided the defensive preparations, and went peacefully to sleep. ‘When morning came, however, and we had eaten and packed, and were waiting for the first peep o’ day ere we took the trail, Buck led Howe the scoffer a little way from camp and pointed silently to the devious snow- shoe tracks that ringed our camp. “They mean business,” Buck quietly sald. “All they lack is half a show!" CHAPTER VII. Bon Voyage. NE might call it the frutts of carelessness. Lord knows wo'd had warnings enough! Those surreptitious night- prowlings should have put us on our guard, But though Jule and Buck were thoroughly convinced that the Ape and his Indian followers meditated some devilment, we could not bring ourselves td bell that they would openly attack us, Steal from ug they probably would, we said, but only if good opportunity offered, So, much against Jule's counsel, wo took no great precaution in the way of looking out for trouble while on the trail—and thus it happened that be- fore noon that day we paid heavy penalty for our rashness, I never could tell exactly how It occurred; it was done so quickly and ruthlessly that my mind failed to grasp all the brutal details, There was no skirmishing, no fight, They rushed us from a nearby spruce grove 4s we halted on the edge of a deep gully to plan a crossing, Jule pitched on his face like a falling tree at the first shot. Buck fell on the gully brink and roiled over and over to the bottom, where he jay, quite still, half- buried in the Joose snow. That much a fleeting glimpse showed me as [ sprang for the weapon L had laid on the nearest sled. My fingers never touched it, Instantly I was the cen- tral struggling unit in an overwhelm- ing mass of buckskin-clad aborig- ines; and when my faculties once moro regained their normal state Dick and 1 were prisoners, battered but alive, I looked nervously about for Howe, and grew haif-sick when I discovered him, a crumpled heap, in the centre of a trampled, bloody circle in the snow, Of a truth, the Ape had meant mischief; and now the mischief was done, Why they hadn't shot down the last one of us from a aafe ambush puzzled me. No more than three or four shots were fired, and those, judging by the result, had been directed at our aides. Probably they considered us lenderfeet; easy game, once sepurated from Buck and Jule,’ Besides, there was the old score against Buck to settle up; though, for that matter, Howe and { had ‘likely earned full measure of the renegades’ resentment for our interference tn the Edmonton fight, Buck and Howe had paid dear for that, but why not 1, also? Why should two of us be overpowered by weight of numbers, and the others shot down like rabbits? 1 had little time to speculate on this, though, They straightened out the tangled dog-teams and headed them the other way, One evil-looking, undersized Indian held me under the threatening muzzle of his another performed a like servic Dick, a few feet away, We stood helpless, watching blooded ghouls ‘go through kein of Jule. ‘ tion at the Ape us h © to Howe The Ape poked t with his foot ‘the limp body of our friend, shook bis head, and, turning, flung out a brief word of commanc Dick hesitated, with a wistful look toward Hoy as the doy-teams started, but the Indian threw up his gun with a threatening grunt, and we oP rc hy ass on February 16 You MIND m ALITTLE 2 cmmeneenemmenianeas. moved on obediently; no man courts death willingly without at least a And, as we turned our backs on that place of murder, L set my teeth and swore that if a fignt- ing chance came I would take it for the sake of the dead men in the snow. t this isan awful ending to Dick | groaned, ‘1 could take my medicine, whatever it is, without @ whimper, if it wasn't for getting you its like a might- throwing ont tag . Ce ws our strength in fruittess bd the sticks in 84 Cup the trail without heal- the trail un- tation. An voyage, m'sieus,” following us over thecrackling snow, CHAPTER VIII. Man-Tracks in the Snow. HEN we had put a half-mile between ourselves and the Ape's vicinity, and the in- tervening timber precluded the possibility of @ bullet in the back—a contingency which I freely admit oppressed me considerably the first three hundred yards—we stopped to take breath and size up our re- shed mirthlessly when he opened the package. Our de- spoilers had furnished us exactly two dozen matches, ope small tin cup, and about two ounces of coart Right there I had a taste of what a criminal must feel when he 1p on the scaffold and the hang- tucks the black cap about his here listening to voloes of every imaginable key, with @ vig- orous Chorus of yelping and tom When the powwow o slept In cat-naps fighting chance. disgust and followe I don't believe I'd b classed ag @ profane man, but I sh tered the third commandment to finitesinal fragments when @ bu' earibou—meat fed us two for a year—trotted into a little open inquisttively 1 remainder of the long night, our tired bodies clamoring for rest, despite otr parlous plight and cramping tightness of our bonds. We were awake and whispering en- couragement to each other when an Indian poked his ugly mug into the He carried a steaming pot, which be set by the fire, and grunted wome guttural sentence to our gu ‘That individual arose, stretched hfm- self, and in a leisurely manner un- tied the strips of hide that bound our ‘stiffened limbs. back and motioned us to eat. You may be sure we needed no second bidding. We were little short of rav- enous, though we hardly realized our ‘hunger until our teeth closed on the It was venison of some kind; clean, savory stuff that gave us a When we had fin- our guard threw 0} signified that tramned along, fellows {nto th mare, Tommy!" I answered, donning a mask of hopefulness that was my only defense against “Mavbe we can play even with these I wonder If Howe wa they didn’t shoot hiin, tter breakdown. tops, and shortly hid But the cold—ugh! “No.” Dick wiped away a trickle of blood from @ bruise on his cheek- bone, and gritted his teeth in potent anger. weren't even that merciful. simply clubbed him If he'd had a gun or even a Knife—but he fought them bare- A half-dozen of them had me fast, and they were plied three ,, We couldn't do a thing; fresh grip on life. lodge-flap and should pass out. Grouped about @ crackling fire a short distance from the lodge, and flanked by their savage satellites, the and Francois awaited us. of Francois lay two pairs of lneue bdundie no big- ‘The irony of the thing! I've half a mind to turn back and have it out with them right now,” snapped Dick. boat, Tommy. deep on you, not a ching! We said no more. our hind legs. What could we There are times when words times when a man’s soul is bilstered shoe from hia foot snowshoes and ger than a mai yood morneeng, good morneeng, How are we ever going to get anywhere with this? I don’t ven know where Fort Resolution is, brain seethes and hi tongue is numb, @ us For five heart-breaking hours we tolled along the back trail, before us ame and Indians, twenty- five of thirty painted buck: of visage and squat of statur at our heels the Francois the malevolent. once I shivered at the imaginary parrot-beaked one's knife- blade grating harshly against my It would have been #0 easy for him, and the sort of thing he that lone rabbit. and @ meal meant much to us. “Ah hope you sleep well Ah got som’ leetle news for you dees morneeng, m'sieus. W'at ees de good Book say ‘One eye for one eye,’ ees est not Dat ees de law of de lak for keel mé an’ ma tam’ een Edmonton; come up here an’ hunt an’ shoot de caribou on de place w'at belong ma fren's de Eenjun, You call dat falr, eh? You mak’ de Eenjun ver’ mad. So much mad dat dey ‘t out for keel you all. Fran cols an’ hees fren’ dey sa: Dem fellers she don't know bet- Better for chase dem away,’ But mad an’ keel de guide cause she's s'pose for know better dan to come here; an’ dey have to keel do { ‘cause he fight so work back to the shore, the way we came down; we know the lake lies somewhe: west of us. The main thin, to acheme some way of getting food.” oan sneak u) ly, and knoc! Dick hopefully sug- gested, "You know a fellow can often get wthin a few feet of them. But the first thing I'd like to dy Is to go back to where they nailed us. Some- how I can't bear to think of those poor devils lying there like butchered haunted me all night follow the trail that far, any- leering Ape and og woods, You we had once do The snow was steadily falling, and lonesome woods, Yet the idea that we we began to fear that it might cover were on the track of one of our the tracks so that we could not tecate friends had run persistently in my sought, so we pushed on, mind all afternoon. "La! to find and dispose of the bodies before cooking our rabbit. Be- sides, even with good luc more than enough mi one fire a day. ‘The sun was hidden, and we had no I'm way of telling time, but ft must have cheap. been mid-afternoon when we came to | It was not far to the fire, As we the gully edge where the Ape and his plundering band had fallen upon us, #hadow of @ man stooping over the deal of fresh snow Pe e po ° Rin. circle of ght the soft pluff, pluft of Binaketed tHe Begs, ve ocuig bar +4 our webbed shoes in the crisp, new- Hot fallen snow must have betrayed our no sign that with @ atick,” Tt was dark when they drove ue into the Indian camp, tied our hands and feet with etrips of caribou hide, and without supper or ceremony thrust us into the smoky shelter of a lodge. One mask-facea, paint-daubed buck kept us company, squatting Impassively on his haunohes, moving only when he reached out to puta fresh stick on the fire that smoldered in the centre of de Eenjun shi them up with somethi: get out we'll come ba give them decent burial. get out—why, 4 do the same for us.” I agreed with Dick, for the same thing was in my mind. When one has eaten and slept with a m a man, it goes aguinst the grain to know that his bones resting-place, private theorte face to face with when the spirit that mov one belng has fled it doesn’t much “So at de council las’ night de Een- Though a good 8 lis'n w'en Francols mak’ But dem Eenjun e's mighty mad “bout dees t'lng, so @ say, Wo play a leetle game, an’ eet ge wiite man Physically, we were not #0 badly Hungry we were, and light thing to be tted hard on @ soft rob + which last, God knows, is Something to be thankful for, when is the frost-bound miles that ne cold glint of the Great If we could have put away the memory of that afternoon, and given over wondering what the morrow held for us, we could have been fuirly com- trampled splaces were no bodies, murder had been done; nothing but the dim, trodden snow, and a tew outlying, half-obliterated tracks “The Indians must have come back 1 yelled, but there was no answer, and moved them away, “But I don't see why they'd do ing except the crackle of the glowing that, elther. any qualms of con things, as a rule. the trouble to bury they'd killed.” An hour or more wo spent tn use- away from his camp fire, I'd lke to less search, even scrambling into the know when it happened.” deep gully bottom In the vain hope of finding them there, down to keep Huck washed away hees got plenty k' Eenjun, maybeso she ween; m Francois spread his gesture of mock pity Was posing, and we knew it, and the knowledge did not tend to comfort us or raise our hopes, rectly, pointing to the snowshoe: to be one of before I came uch things, that He went on di- n it comes to a show- down, six feet by three is the common and instinet will you that the last, least service you can do for the dead is to lay reverently away in dust from whence all the have sprung. is part of a white mai whether he owns it or not, divided the matches, them carefully away like the precious thines they were, and went on, after breaking two dead limbs from a near- We were men net back ten thousand yeara in history, matching our cunning and bare hands against the wild things of the forest, a club weapon, and all about us North; so it a I'm no mind reader, so I can't tell some odder t'ing for start wit’, beso you mak’ Fort Res'lutton—she only ‘bout two-honder-feefty mile. So put on de snowshoe m'sieus, before de Eenjun she change remember dees ees Jus’ one leetle game Francois broke off with @ crafty grin, for which Ih n’ BO queeckly, jumble of sorrow and anger, a pot- pourri of past joys and mischances, ell erhapsa thrown ompany and be spring floods, ave Up and plunged into ject In person, I wonder tf he's got toward anything to eat?” done our best for — It doesn’t take long for hunger and the dead, and our own problems re- hardship to atrip civilized influences Any man is apt to work the on his think ma- en he imagines he's about to the end of his rope. Holliday's Iaug need to ram one pwn his devilish » hundred and fAfty miles -without grub or guns! no woodsman to tell us that short of & miracle those trackless snows would It was a game, and one we had no choice but to play, But night be a chance for un ff yt our heads and played it to ° And so we tramped silently out of the Indian ca: cold gray dawn, rising up be- help my mood A moody pair were we who gathered gene: a roaring fire in gle night som darkness have hesitated to boldly stalk into uuldn't live forever on one any man's camp and help ourselves All that afternoon to what we could find, but when we 11d hope to looked closely and discove method of a of skinned rabbits by t thrown otick had defied our efforts, we pounced on them as if they were be our shroud of a@ eut-bank when the implacable ta man thinks as w \ ved us, since the stake aays and does that will this little old world There must have been 4 council, @ tribal confab of some sort afters the amall rabbit the primitive @ mocking “Bon gsenged our need, hogged warily be- ewer 1916 The Golden Next Week’s Complete N If You Could Get Your Hands on $30,000,000— You Might Find Yourself in the Game Queer Plight a6 the People in By DWIGHT TILTON ‘The WH Be Wt le the etory of several mon and a girl absard an cosa finer that wae carrying tone of gold from New Yerk to England, 9 = °* TREASURE, BAFFLING MYSTERY and en ABSOLUTELY UN- FORESEEN CLIMAX—these are the salient pointe of “THE GOLDEN GREYHOUNDI" Greyhound ® . vel in The Evening W: things ours by surveying us impotent man¢' [pure @ safe distance. We ate rabvit [toasted piecemeal on twig ends, and speculated on the meagre shances for breakfast. ‘With the hungerache dulled, though Mot wholly banished, and @ brisk fire i= warm us, it was heat soon dried the earth from which ‘we had tollfully cleared the snow, and the high bank shut off the nipping wind that purred among the trees. With a goodly pile of dead lim! stacked by to replenish the fire, wi collected a double armful of spruce to sleep. By turns we slept ai the fire throughout the long night. ‘When dawn came the sky was clear, @ hard blue dome, and the first re heralds of the Iaggard stin brought to ‘us new hope and a fortuitous begin- ning of the day. I was gathering 4 last few sticks for the fire, when @ rabbit bounded out of his nest In the snow almost at my feet. Without conscious aim I let fly a stick, and by ‘accident or the mercy of Providence, I got him. He was a big fellow, and fat, a0 we had a tolerable breakfast and set forth in as good spirits as men In our hapless state could be ex- pected to have. ‘As I sald before, we bent our ate in the direction we judged Slave Lake to be. To reach the og and boo ged eastern shore until we came to the mouth of Slave River and thus ito Fort Resolution was our only feasible plan. While we could un- doubtedly cut off many miles by an atr fl through the woods, there was always the danger of losing all sense of direction when ‘the sun fatled to shine, and we had no great store of strength to be wasted In hootless wandering. Once on the lake shore it depended only on our endurance and the question of food whether we won to safety, A pleasant outlook, wasn't it? | About noon that day, it was, when n the man tracks; @ ie trail that led without deviation Aimoast parallel to our own. We brought up short, eying the footprints jeagerly. “What do you make of It, Dick?” T asked. “Indian or white man? Sec, he hasn't any snow-shoes. It mist be worth while to follow. ‘Tho tral ‘pout in novels,” Dick returned, byl tell you that fellow’s height, weight, age, nationality and business. unfortunately, I'm in the same you, Tommy, I can see that there's a fresh track in the snow, and that's all, We won't be going out of our way to Solow ‘his trail, though, ay bette our later we name to where the unknown had seate: im self upon a fallen tree. A bit of torn cloth lay in the snow nearby. It had been white once, but now It was a dull red, soaked with blood aad froz- en atiff. Dick and I looked at each other, and followed the trail without Stopped, q word, But—we were thinking. were " Tt grew dusk, Apparently we were within fitty yards, then snorted and tt enOm ie nan we folldwed than went their way at a leisurely trot. climbed above the tree we had been unable to kill another ite glittering, rabbit, and when In the twilleht we heatloss face behind a bank of clouds. grumbled on a little grove of service- A little later snow began to fall; big, ferry bushes, with a few dozen clus- seatiered Makes, fluttering Hke tufts tery of berries ripened and dried upon of down, for there waa no breath of their atema, we camped for the night. It was in- oPhe berries were good—at least, they the sort of cold that were filling and It waa vitally tm- grips like a monster icy hand; cold that burned up vitality as @ forced “wa gathered a, little pile of wood draft consumes fuel, A careleas cotton-tall hopped from huilding a tiny nest of twige and ree and sat up on bis tall crushed bark to house the budding to take atock of us, wondering, per- flame, no that [ would use no more haps, what manner of strange beast than one of the sluphur-tipped splin~ we were, to stalk over the snow on tera that might mean life or death to His curlority was our us before our Journey was done, when Dick plucked the snow- Dick called to me from where he was and let drive, breaking limbs from a dead tree- catching the long-eared midget fair trunk. Nover did the Israelites Tommy, there's @ camp fire down fall. upon Heaven-sent manna with here; I can aes tt plain!" he cried, half the Joy and thankfulness that I sprang to my feet and Joined him Was ours when we swooped down on on the little hill, Sure enough, a yel- Tt meant a meal, low glare flickered among tho trees. Wo The distance was short—one can’t see could cope with the allent, ominous & fire in the woods very far, you woods and the long, white miles, and Know, even Be ighh oi — it Sao eng eo our rabbit Broke off. It seemed ohildish to hope eee de a to Te ee ain, dave before could be alive and build. when we firat came upon his tratl. portant that we should be filled. and bark. I was down on my knees “Do you sul je——"" T began and that men we had seen die two short ing fires to light us through those ® fo and I proposed desperately. We won't be much worse off if we we had no do bump into the enemy again.” chea to build = “Come on, then,” sald Dick, “we've nothing to lose but our scalps—and bout ready to sell mine dirt w near we could distinguish the When we were well up to the approach to his keen ears, for he threw up his head like a startled deer and in one bound was gone from ou wight among the close-ranged trees. “Hey, there! Hold on a minute!” Dick hazard- Nor did any sound come to our hear- devils haven't fire, though we listened closely for ence about such some time, They wouldn't take = "Darn this land of mystery!" T a white man A “If two more harmless mortals ) you and I ever drove a man t hin go to the devil if he wants .” Dick muttered recklessly, “We'll ke possession of th fire. If he nean't like our presence he can ob from a man; he can go back several ions toward savagery in a sin- nas. Normally we'd at © ot wo bad. The f boughs for a bed, and Dick lay down a fed DI iD ’ Another step, and we see his face. It was Howe. Howe, the gay conqueror of fashion-plate ¥, & ly bandage round his etar- ing darkly at us across « p tire in Fg? North Woods. when we @ to him joyfully, him by name, he answered our gresting with an uncomprehending glare, — CHAPTER IX." The Disembodied Voice. OWE!" 1 cried. “For the love of Heaven, aay a thing. Don't you us—Dick and Tommy?” “You needn't yell at me Mike thet,” he answered, glowering sujlenly. “I'm not hard of hearing. You may be Dick and Tommy, on Harry and Joe, for ail I know. But what I yrant. to know ts, what d'ye want eround here, anyway?” nee I was too stunned to reply; ¢t was #0 unreal, so unlike Howe, But Dick grasped the situation, and stepped into the breach, as the novel writers say. Hoe always was tolerably quick- witted, and he took the right ous, Howe's attitude was anything but cordial; in fact, he wag guspicion personified, . “We want to get in on this bie fire of yours, more than anything @lse, if you don't mind,” said Dick. ' “Lord, but it's frosty weather! I yrish wo had @ flying-machine, eo We, could get out of this blasted coutitry in a hurry. We ran into some pfetty hard citizens the other day, and’ they left us strapped, to starve or freeze as it might happen, That's how. #e camo to swoop in here and gobblevup your rabbits, I wouldn't be eurpriséd to find the same thing had been your experience, pow?" A Howe crouchéd down and héla Lis hands out to the fire, “You did. look pretty well froze, for a fact,’ ‘sHe'said, in a different tone, passing upc Ryek'a question altogether. “I was watching you when you got in here. And you say yo" haven't got any grub?” T held out the tin cup and thi parcel of salt. “That and matches ta the size of our him bitterly. “Oh, we're for a deep-enow trail!” ‘That seemed to strike him ame grim joke, for he smiled faintly. At first glance T should have said that he was in worse case than we. His. as terribly marred from the clt ns and the aftermath of frost-bit hes raw places. Sitting there on his haunches, with RM eer ye red blaze lighting up his bate ros Rnd” the. blood-stained - ooktekining wrapped round his head, ge -witzht have passed for some anciéht pirate, fresh from a dloody boarding-fray And he had all the nerve ang the re- source af those old-tim eens Sounds far-fetched, t itt: But {t's so. The big Northland, unpeopled, inhospitable, barren of all-the com-+ forts that had been his from .birth. had no terrors for him, alone ant unarmed as he was; he feared neither starvation nor the deep snows. The poise of him and his curt speech he- tokened @ man who would jest with fate to his last breath. ‘You're fools,” he flung out gruffly, “and greenies, too, or you wouldn't be hoofing it in this country, without grub or guns, Oh, well, you'll learn Skip out from some H. B. Cxpost, did ead “Heavens, no!" I cried, ahd would have said more, but he interrupted, reaching around the fire after a plece of the rabbit I had been eating. “It'a your own business,” he grunted. “I don't care @ shilling where you come from. Fven fools must be fed, when they come hungry to @ man’ camp. A bit of that salt Saeed ve lived on meat tor @ dor’ * He fished out his pocketknife, which the plunderers must have overlooked in their search of him, and aharpened two little sticke for us and: one for himself, We toasted bits af rabbit, eating silently, puzzling over the meta- morphosts of 0” hum, He sat oppo- site, taciturn; saying little, but keenly alert. He was watchful without ap- pearing so; without obtrusive stariag be Rosa gar every move. It was as if ne hag come an inte; t of the wild, with all ite soft, Sore cnoveqasat and its patient cunning. Once he held up his hand, cutting Dick short in the middle of a sentence. We could hear nothing, though the memory of past events made ue sansi- tive to sounds, 90 that we wi start involuntarily at the snap of @ twig or the soft thud of snow falling over an overloaded branch; but How® listened & moment, then got up and slipped nolselesly into the brush. ,He was back ina minute with @ rabbit, still kicking. “How do you manage it?* Dick's astonishment was obvious Howe cast upon us @ look of toler- ant pi “Snare ‘em, of course,” he owe had a few odd pieces of string in his pockets—not five cente’ warth of common cord—and yet, if he was so minded he could capture @ dozen rab- bits in a single night. “D'ye know.” he began abruptly, after a time of staring at the. dre, “just where we are?” ™ “1 think re a few miles east of Slave Lake,” L replied, wondering what he was driving at, “amd: about two hundred and fifty miles:north of the mouth of Slave River.” Howe looked at mo a monteht, a startled look in his bloodshot eyes (To Be Continued.) « gfhhins es an