Kayak Bill ceased to
talk of the proposed trip, although Shane still kept up a brave front
and spoke confidently, in her presence at least, of landing at
Katleean. She began to feel vaguely uneasy.

One morning when Jean and Lollie had gone off to gather gull eggs,
which were now found in small quantities, Ellen decided to take lunch
to the men who were working on the whaleboat a mile and a half away.

As she approached the spot she saw the upturned hull of the boat lying
upon the sand. No one was in sight. She gasped as she saw the
battered condition of the craft. One end seemed splintered and a
jagged hole showed plainly in the bottom. Three other holes had been
mended with tin. The next instant she was aware that the three men
were sitting on the other side of the whaleboat, resting probably.
Their voices floated out to her distinctly.

"We mout as well face the music, boys," Kayak Bill was saying. "We're
up against the damn'dest bit o' coast in Alasky, and in a rotten tub
like this it's a ten to one chance we're takin' but----"

At this point, to Ellen's vexation, the paper containing the lunch
burst apart letting half a dozen gull eggs, which formed the principal
part of it, fall to the sand. Instinctively she stooped to gather
them. The next words that came to her told her that Shane and Kayak
were discussing the unwritten law of the North--the law of the cache.
In a land where food is the god supreme, this law has made itself.
White and native alike bow before it. It means life. The food cache,
no matter where found, is inviolate. Than robbing a cache there is no
more foul or cowardly crime. And ranked with the cache robber is the
man who goes back on his promise, or fails, through neglect, to furnish
food to those who depend on him. Death, Ellen knew, is the penalty for
both crimes in the remote places of Alaska. As she went forward she
heard the White Chief's name and some words that were unintelligible to
her. Then Shane came to his feet. He was speaking in a voice
toneless, dispassionate, but weighted with finality.

"I'll do it, but I don't need a gun, by God!" From his pocket he drew
his revolver which he had taken that morning in the hope of getting a
seal. He laid it across his other palm. "I have five shots left--but
I'm going to do it with my hands on his throat!"

As he finished speaking Harlan and Kayak Bill stood up also. The young
man turned and saw Ellen coming toward th