ious of the pursuer's presence; always he could see
the picture of Spurling's uplifted face and the pleading that was in
his eyes as the assailant, with his back turned towards the onlooker,
poised the axe above his head. That he might not share that fate he
broke away into the greyness, tripping over snow ridges, falling into
drifts, and bruising his body against the trunks of trees in the
madness of his flight. His huskies added to his panic by following
him.

There were times when he ran so far ahead that he could neither see
nor hear them; but, when he halted, panting, they would emerge and lay
themselves down at his side. He hated them; they were sinister in his
eyes. Had they not brought Spurling from Winnipeg, and had not their
yellow-faced leader been the cause of Strangeways' death?

The wind, rising higher, shrieked among the branches. He wandered on,
neither knowing nor caring where he went, for he had lost all sense of
locality or time. There were intervals during which he must have
dreamed and slept, for he passed down an endless street of tall
houses, built in the English fashion, and the blinds were up and it
was nightfall. On the windows danced the light of fires, burning on
the hearths inside; and sometimes he could see the faces of children
looking out at him. He held up his blue hands at them, making signs
that they should let him in that he might warm himself; but they shook
their heads mischievously, and ran away and laughed.

After one of these experiences, more real to him than the others, he
came to himself. Surely that was the sound of music and dancing that
came to him above the cry of the storm. He waited for a lull and
listened, then followed the direction of the sound. As he drew nearer,
he caught the thud of moccasined feet beating time upon a boarded
floor, and snatches of the tune which the violin was playing.
Something loomed up out of the darkness to meet him. He held out his
hands to force it from him, and drove them against a door. Then he
knew that he had arrived at God's Voice.

He was half inclined to knock; at least they would not threaten him
and drive him away this time as they had done in the previous winter.
What was more likely to happen was that the man who opened to him,
recognising him, would seize him by the throat, drag him inside and
quickly slam the door. He would push him before him across the square
till he came to the room where the trappers were dancing, where,