ed. Then he saw
the rifle, and breathed easier. For some reason the outlaw had not
taken that, and it was a moment or two before the significance of the
fact broke upon him. Blake must have escaped just as he was making that
last tremendous fight to rouse himself. He had had no more than time to
slink away into the shadows of the night, and had not paused to hazard
a chance of securing the weapon that lay on the snow close to Celie. He
had evidently believed that Philip was only half asleep, and in the
moonlight he must have seen the gleam of the big revolver leveled over
his captor's knee.

Leaving Celie huddled in her furs, Philip rose to his feet and slowly
approached the snow hummock against which he had left his prisoner. The
girl heard the startled exclamation that fell from his lips when he saw
what had happened. Blake had not escaped alone. Running straight out
from behind the hummock was a furrow in the snow like the trail made by
an otter. He had seen such furrows before, where Eskimos had wormed
their way foot by foot within striking distance of dozing seals.
Assistance had come to Blake in that manner, and he could see where--on
their hands and knees--two men instead of one had stolen back through
the moonlight.

Celie came to his side now, gripping the rifle in her hands. Her eyes
were wide and filled with frightened inquiry as she looked from the
tell-tale trails in the snow into Philip's face. He was glad that she
could not question him in words. He slipped the Colt into its holster
and took the rifle from her hands. In the emergency which he
anticipated the rifle would be more effective. That something would
happen very soon he was positive. If one Eskimo had succeeded in
getting ahead of his comrades to Blake's relief others of Upi's tribe
must be close behind. And yet he wondered, as he thought of this, why
Blake and the Kogmollock had not killed him instead of running away.
The truth he told frankly to Celie, thankful that she could not
understand.

"It was the gun," he said. "They thought I had only closed my eyes, and
wasn't asleep. If something hadn't kept that gun leveled over my
knee--" He tried to smile, knowing that with every second the end might
come for them from out of the gray mist of moonlight and shadow that
shrouded the shore. "It was a one-man job, sneaking out like that, and
there's sure a bunch of them coming up fast to take a hand in the game.
It's up to us to hit the high spots