along the
line."

An hour later Tregelly was ready to start, and shook hands. Then he
hesitated.

"What is it?" said Dallas.

"I was thinking whether I ought to go round by my claim and see how that
fellow's getting on. Sometimes I'm pulled one way, sometimes I'm pulled
another. But going perhaps means a bullet in my jacket, so I won't go."

He threw the leather band over his shoulder, and the next minute the
sledge runners were creaking and crackling as they glided over the
hardened snow, while Dallas stood listening with his companion till the
last sound died out, and then hurriedly fetched load after load of
fire-logs, with the dog busily at work exploring the neighbourhood in
all directions, coming back at five-minute intervals panting and sending
up his visible breath, till Dallas bade him go in.

"Dal," said Abel, after a few minutes' pause, during which they had been
stacking the wood neatly in one corner, "don't you feel glad that you
saved Scruff's life?"

"I should think I do. He's going to prove a regular policeman on the
beat."

A low, deep growl came from the dog.

"Hullo! Does he object to being called a bobby?"

"Hist! No," whispered Abel, darting to the hooks upon which the rifles
were hung. For the dog had trotted softly to the door, and stood
looking down at the narrow opening at the bottom, and was growling more
deeply than before.

"There's some one coming," whispered Dallas, "and that fire makes it as
light within here as day."

The two young men darted close to the side, and drew the curtain-like
rugs over the door and the little shuttered window.

Just as this was completed the dog growled again, and then burst into a
deep-toned bay.

CHAPTER THIRTY TWO.

THE ENEMY IN THE DARK.

"Ahoy there! Keep that dog quiet," cried a familiar voice from some
distance off.

"It's all right," cried Dallas with a sigh of relief. "Norton."

"Here, Scruff, lie down, old man," cried Abel. "Friends, friends."

The dog whined, and waved his bushy tail as the door was opened, and
their bluff friend came into the glow shed by the fire.

"How are you, my lads? Haven't seen you for ages. Didn't know you had
started a dog."

"He's a visitor," said Dallas. "Come in."

The man entered and looked sideways at the dog, who had begun to smell
his legs.

"Not treacherous, is he? Some of these Eskimo are brutes to snap."

"No, he understands you are friends," said Abel. "Lie down