me," he said. "Didn't you know I'd come?"

CHAPTER XVI

THE GREAT LIE

D'Arcy regarded him fixedly. It astonished him that a man should travel
hundreds of miles in the Arctic winter to vent his wrath on another.

"Why should you come?" he murmured.

"You--you ask me that! You----"

He stopped as a spasm of pain crossed D'Arcy's face. In the presence of
impending Death he found a strange difficulty in giving full vent to his
hate.

"I see," gasped D'Arcy. "It's because I helped her to escape. Perhaps I
was wrong, but believe me, it was better that way. I knew her years
ago.... It gave you pain, but it may have saved her from hating
you--eventually...."

This seeming hypocrisy staggered Jim. That any man facing the shadow of
Death could act in such manner was amazing. He quivered with violent
repulsion.

"I wasn't referring to that," he snapped. "She didn't escape--I brought
her back."

"You--you brought her back! Then why did you come here?"

"I came to kill you--with my hands. Did you think I would rest until that
score was settled?"

D'Arcy attempted to drag himself into a sitting position, but the pain it
caused him rendered the attempt vain. He closed his eyes for a few
seconds, then slowly opened them. He became conscious of the fact that
they were at cross-purposes.

"I don't understand.... In any case you are too late.... But why do you
want to kill me? What I did, I did for the sake of friendship. I don't
doubt you would--do the same for a woman in trouble--if--if you loved
her."

Jim passed his hand across his brow. It was bewildering, baffling!

"God, ain't you got a soul?" he gasped. "Can you lie there within a few
minutes of death and take a pride in what you did? Damn the fate that got
you plugged before I could get my hands on you. I suffered hell out
there, these two months, hunting you all over the mountains, and now ..."

D'Arcy surveyed the distraught speaker in bewilderment. He had said that
Angela had been brought back from the _Silas P. Young_. Then it wasn't
that escape that had sent him up here in bitter, revengeful mood. He began
to touch the outer edge of the truth.

"I'm cold," he muttered. "And it grows dark.... Where are you?... I must
know more, ... tell me what troubles you.... Do you think there was
anything more in that business but friendship? Speak!"

"I know!"

"Ah--I see.... So that's it.... See here, friend.... I'm going out ...
right out, where perha