rough the heaving night. Then there came a lull, a strange,
deep lull, deathlike after the mighty blast. And in the sudden quiet it
seemed to me I heard a hollow cry.

"Hist! What was that?" whispered the Halfbreed.

Jim, too, was listening intently.

"Seems to me I heard a moan."

"Sounded like the cry of an outcast soul. Maybe it's the spirit of some
poor devil that's lost away out in the night. I hate to open the door
for nothing. It will make the place like an ice-house."

Once more we listened intently, holding our breath. There it was again,
a low, faint moan.

"It's some one outside," gasped the Halfbreed. Horror-stricken, we
stared at each other, then he rushed to the door. A great gust of wind
came in on us.

"Hurry up, you fellows," he cried; "lend a hand. I think it's a man."

Frantically we pulled it in, an unconscious form that struck a strange
chill to our hearts. Anxiously we bent over it.

"He's not dead," said the Halfbreed, "only badly frozen, hands and feet
and face. Don't take him near the fire."

He had been peering inside the parka hood and suddenly he turned to me.

"Well, I'm darned--it's Locasto."

Locasto! I shrank back and stood there staring blankly. Locasto! all
the old hate resurged into my heart. Many a time had I wished him dead;
and even dying, never could I have forgiven him. As I would have shrank
from a reptile, I drew back.

"No, no," I said hoarsely, "I won't touch him. Curse him! Curse him! He
can die."

"Come on there," said Jim fiercely. "You wouldn't let a man die, would
you? There's the brand of a dog on you if you do. You'll be little
better than a murderer. It don't matter what wrong he's done you, it's
your duty as a man to help him. He's only a human soul, an' he's like to
die anyway. Come on. Get these mits off his hands."

Mechanically I obeyed him. I was dazed. It was as if I was impelled by a
stronger will than my own. I began pulling off the mits. The man's hands
were white as putty. I slit the sleeves and saw that the awful whiteness
went clear up the arm. It was horrible.

Jim and the Halfbreed had cut open his mucklucks and taken off his
socks, and there stretched out were two naked limbs, clay-white almost
to the knees. Never did I see anything so ghastly. Tearing off his
clothing we laid him on the bed, and forced some brandy between his
lips.

At last heat was beginning to come back to the frozen frame. He moaned,
and opened his eyes in a wi