obvious solution
was to leave Moose Gulch, as he had intended all along. In his mind
the cold was somehow connected with the settlement, through Cahill,
who was buried there. A trip to one of the warm, southern regions in
the States, he decided, should bring relief.

He sold the furs and with the money took passage on a plane that
operated between the settlement and a large town some distance away.
Continuing to travel by plane, he presently arrived in Seattle.

Still the cold remained with him. The miles he had put between Moose
Gulch and himself hadn't done any good.

Nothing seemed to help. Heavy clothes, nourishing foods, whisky,
vigorous exercise--nothing brought him the warmth he was beginning to
crave as an addict craves dope.

Desperately, he resumed his trip, traveling by air and then by train,
and finally grasping at any means of transportation that happened to
be most convenient. The cold traveled with him. It enveloped him like
a shell. It was an invisible prison, shutting him away from the world
of warmth.

The climate grew increasingly mild and balmy as he progressed
southward. But the chill that always surrounded him grew worse.

More often, now, he thought of Cahill's grim promise. "_I'm going to
get you. I'm going to make you pay._" It repeated itself over and over
in his mind. It was emphasized by the invisible blanket of cold
wrapped inescapably about him.

Once, in a hotel room where he had been drinking steadily, Hager's
despair rose in him to the point of madness. He leaped from the bed,
hurling an empty whisky bottle against the wall, screaming mingled
curses and entreaties.

"Damn you, Cahill, leave me alone! Haven't you had enough? How much
longer are you going to keep torturing me? Leave me alone, do you
hear? Leave me alone!"

Cahill didn't seem to hear. Or if he did, he paid no attention. The
cold stayed.

* * * * *

Hager began to lose weight. His stocky figure became gaunt, his cheeks
sunken. Dark hollows cupped his feverishly bright eyes. His hands
trembled. He jerked nervously at sudden noises.

In Los Angeles he yielded to a wild impulse and visited a doctor. He
explained his symptoms, omitting their true cause, and pleaded for
help.

The doctor gave him a complete physical examination, though it was
evident from the man's expression of perplexity that he had learned
nothing. "I can't understand it," he told Hager. "There's nothing
serio