not talk."

McCan fell first, and struggled wearily to his feet. And after that all
fell repeatedly ere they reached the summit. Their wills exceeded their
muscles, they knew not why, save that their bodies were oppressed by a
numbness and heaviness of movement. From the crest, looking back, they
saw the young men stumbling and falling on the upward climb.

"They will never get here," Labiskwee said. "It is the white death. I
know it, though I have never seen it. I have heard the old men talk.
Soon will come a mist--unlike any mist or fog or frost-smoke you ever
saw. Few have seen it and lived."

McCan gasped and strangled.

"Keep your mouth covered," Smoke commanded.

A pervasive flashing of light from all about them drew Smoke's eyes
upward to the many suns. They were shimmering and veiling. The air was
filled with microscopic fire-glints. The near peaks were being blotted
out by the weird mist; the young men, resolutely struggling nearer, were
being engulfed in it. McCan had sunk down, squatting, on his skees, his
mouth and eyes covered by his arms.

"Come on, make a start," Smoke ordered.

"I can't move," McCan moaned.

His doubled body set up a swaying motion. Smoke went toward him slowly,
scarcely able to will movement through the lethargy that weighed his
flesh. He noted that his brain was clear. It was only the body that was
afflicted.

"Let him be," Labiskwee muttered harshly.

But Smoke persisted, dragging the Irishman to his feet and facing him
down the long slope they must go. Then he started him with a shove,
and McCan, braking and steering with his staff, shot into the sheen of
diamond-dust and disappeared.

Smoke looked at Labiskwee, who smiled, though it was all she could do to
keep from sinking down. He nodded for her to push off, but she came near
to him, and side by side, a dozen feet apart, they flew down through the
stinging thickness of cold fire.

Brake as he would, Smoke's heavier body carried him past her, and he
dashed on alone, a long way, at tremendous speed that did not slacken
till he came out on a level, crusted plateau. Here he braked till
Labiskwee overtook him, and they went on, again side by side, with
diminishing speed which finally ceased. The lethargy had grown more
pronounced. The wildest effort of will could move them no more than at
a snail's pace. They passed McCan, again crouched down on his skees, and
Smoke roused him with his staff in passing.

"Now we must s