the warm supper awaiting them at their shanty homes.
The thought of it all gripped Jacky's young heart with fear, but he was
powerless to warn them. He could not take a single step, and he was
rapidly becoming paralyzed with cold and pain. Once more the soft nose
of the old horse touched his ear. With the nearness of the warm,
friendly nose, his quick wit returned.

"Grey!" he almost shouted, "Grey-Boy, do you think _you_ could take the
lantern? Oh, Grey-Boy, help me think! I'm getting so numb and sleepy.
Oh, couldn't _you_ carry it for me?" With an effort the boy struggled
to his knees, and slipping his arms about the neck of his old chum,
he cried, "Oh, Grey, I saved you once from dying at the logging camp.
They'd have killed you there. Save the mill hands now just for me,
Grey, just for Jack o' Lantern, because I'm deceiving them at last."

The warm, soft nose still snuggled against his ear. The horse seemed
actually to understand. In a flash the boy determined to tie the lantern
to the animal's neck. Then, in another flash, he realized that he had
nothing with which to secure it there. The horse had not an inch of
halter or tie line on him. An inspiration came to him like an answer to
prayer, and within two seconds he acted upon it. Ripping off his coat,
he flung it over the horse's neck, the sleeves hanging down beneath the
animal's throat. Slipping one through the ring handle of the lantern, he
knotted them together. The horse lifted his head, and the lantern swung
clear and brilliant almost under the soft, warm nostrils.

"Get up there, old Grey! Get up!" shouted the boy desperately,
"clicking" with his tongue the well-known sound to start a horse on
the go. "Get up! And oh, Grey, go to the danger spot, nowhere else.
The danger spot, quick! Get up!"

The animal turned, and slowly mounted the broken ledge of earth and
rock. Jacky watched with strained, aching eyes until the light
disappeared over the bluff. Then his agonized knees collapsed. His
shoulders, with no warmth except the thin shirt-sleeves to cover them,
began to sting, then ache, then grow numb. Once more he huddled into
a limp little heap, and this time his eyes closed.

* * * * * * * *

"Do you know, father, I'm anxious about Jacky," said Mrs. Moran, as
they sat down to supper without the boy. "He's never come back since
he started with the lantern, and it's such an awful night. I'm afraid
something has happened to him."

"Why, not