s--pistol and rifle--in a tin in yon
corner. We'll take those and--Well, I'm blessed! They've got them,
too!"

"How tiresome!"

"But they haven't got my gold; I'll warrant that."

"Where is it buried?" asked Abel.

"Buried?" replied Tregelly, with a laugh. "'Tain't buried at all. It's
just outside the door there--one of those big blocks of ice; but we
shall have to wipe it round with a pick-axe to make it a more decent
size for the sledge."

"One of these blocks?"

"That's right, my son. If you make a hiding-place some one's sure to
find it; but they'd never think of looking inside a block lying outside
your door. You see, I picked a big hole in it, put in my stuff, then a
big wedge of flannel, rammed some snow on the top, poured a drop of
water over, and in half an hour it was a solid block."

"Well, let's get it and go, before those other scoundrels come back."

"You needn't fear them, my son. Scruff would let us know if they were
near. I only wish they would come, so as we could have a fight. Taking
my stores like that."

"But about this man?" said Abel.

"What about him, my son? We are doing all we can by letting him alone.
I know enough of that sort of thing to be able to say that nothing can
be done for him. No doctor could do him any good, if there was one to
be had. Let's get the gold and go back. Perhaps his mates will come
back to him when we're gone."

"And if they do, what then?" said Dallas sharply.

"You mean, shall I lay wait for them and trap them, my son. No; I can't
do that now. Be best for them, though, to keep quite out o' my way.
Now then, open the door just a little way, so that you can squeeze out
and get hold of the dog, Mr Dallas. If he gets in we shall have a
scene."

Dallas nodded, glanced at where the delirious man lay muttering to
himself, and then slipped out, and was nearly thrown backward by the
rush the dog made to get into the hut; but he held on to the animal's
thick coat till his companions had had time to slip out and the door was
closed, the dog growling his disappointment the while.

"Now," said Dallas merrily, "which is the block we ought to take?"

There was a heap of hardened snow on either side of the door--a heap
composed of roughened blocks, and when the young men had declared their
inability to say that one was more likely than another, Tregelly stooped
down and rolled the very first one over and over.

"That's the one," he said; "but I m