or devils and such folk, like the neches reckon it's peopled with? Do
you want to hear about an outfit that found everything Nature ever set
for the world's biggest fools? Do you want to know about storms that
leave the worst Northern trails a summer picnic, and muskegs and tundra
that leave you searching for something bigger than miles to measure
with, and barren, fly-ridden territory without a leaf or blade of grass
and scored every way at once with rifts and water canyons so you can't
tell the north from the Desert of Sahara? If you do, read the old report
I've been writing. I'll hand you a story that won't shout credit for the
feller who designed it. But it'll tell you of the guts of the folk who
stood behind him every darn step of the way, and made him crazy to get
them through alive. If you'd asked me that two weeks ago I'd have cried
like a babe. Now it's different. You've got a sick woman under your
hands now, Doc, and two copper coloured neches. And when I say they're
the world's best, why--I just mean it."

A deep flush of emotion underlaid the toughened skin of Steve's face. He
was deeply stirred by the thoughts and feelings which the other's demand
had conjured.

The doctor glanced down at the sheets of paper on which Steve had
written his report. But he made no attempt to accept the invitation to
read it. The moment had come to tell this man of that disaster which yet
awaited him. So he had sought to test him in the only fashion that lay
to his hand. The break which had so sorely threatened in the reaction
following upon Steve's rescue had been completely averted, and the
Scotsman felt that now, at last, he was strong enough to bear the truth
which he had denied him on his first enquiry after his wife and child.

The flush died out of Steve's cheeks. The steady eyes were never more
steady as they looked into the strong face before them. He ran his
fingers through his long dark hair, and resettled his shoulders against
the pile of blankets supporting them.

"It kind of startles you to find guts in folks when you're up against
it. You can't help it. Maybe it's conceit makes you feel that way," he
went on quietly. "Those two boys of mine, and An-ina. You couldn't beat
'em. Nothing could. When Oolak dropped over the side of a canyon, with
most of the outfit the reindeer went with him. You see, we'd rid
ourselves of the dogs. We couldn't feed 'em. Well, I guessed the end had
come. But it hadn't. Julyman and A