ound came for the second
time the listener uttered a wild shriek of joy. It was hardly a cry.
He had struggled to free himself from his icy bonds to go to his
cousin's help, and awakened to the fact that he was helpless, and he had
dared to despair, when all the time Dallas was alive and toiling hard to
come and free him. The sensation of joy and delight was almost
maddening, and he listened again.

There it was--a dull, low, indescribable sound which appealed to him all
through, for he felt it more with his chest than with his ears. It was
a kind of a jar which came through the snow, communicated from particle
to particle, telegraphed to him by the worker below, and it told that
Dallas was strong and well, and striving hard to get free.

How long would it take him to dig his way through? Not long, for he
could not be so deep down now.

He waited, counting every stroke of the shovel, and a fresh joy thrilled
the listener, for those light jars sent fresh hope in waves, telling him
as they did that though he was so benumbed, his body must be full of
sensation. It could not be deadened by the cold.

"Bah! I must naturally be a coward at heart," the poor fellow said to
himself. "Dal's worth a dozen of me. _I_ think of helping him? Pooh!
it is always he who takes that _role_."

But his mind went back again to the one thought--How long would it take
Dallas to dig his way out in spite of his wound? Not so very long--the
strokes of the shovel came so regularly. But what an escape for both!

"Not free yet, though," muttered the prisoner. "That's right, work
away, Dal. Your muscles were always stronger than mine. Get out and
we'll reach the gold yet, and win the prize we came for.--I wonder
whether he could hear me if I shouted!"

He bowed his head as far as he could, nearly touching the snow with his
lips.

"Dal, ahoy! ahoy!" he shouted; and a few moments after came the answer,
"Ahoy--ahoy-oy-oy!" from the icy rocks up the valley.

"Only the echoes," muttered Abel, as the sounds died away.

Then he started, for the hail came again, loud and clear, "Ahoy! Ahoy--
ahoy-oy-oy!" and then once more the echoes.

But the hail was from down the narrow valley, and these echoes were from
above.

"Hurrah! Help coming!" cried Abel wildly. "Ahoy, there! Help!"

He wrenched his head round to utter the cry, and was conscious of a
heavy pang in his injured throat. But what of that at such a time, when
the cry w