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Show drive of the wind during the previous previ-ous snowstorm, lie went at It like an Kskluio, slushing out big domlno-shnped block with his knife. After he had gathered high pile of the blocks on a fairly level spot Just beyond the drift, he started to cut others and lay them edgewise edge-wise In a circular wall around the pile. Two feet up he began to lean the blocks Inward. Py the end of three hours, he stood In the blackness of a snow beehive, half a foot higher than his head and over seven feet across at the floor level. Low down In the wall be cut a bole. There was little more than space enough between the Igloo and the glacier front for him to crawl out He circled around the snow dome and the big drift through the thick swirl of snow, and recrossed the stream. In the cave be found- Llllth fur-bundled fur-bundled and hovering over the lamp, as she broiled thawed caribou cari-bou steaks on a shank-bone spit tmimm toot without a wince or urmm and bent to slip her moccasins under the toe thopss of the snowsliocs. Ie-celved Ie-celved Into thinking her sprain not serious Garth slued around her and ran on at his best pait. He would Ret the body of Constable Dillon aboard the plane' and mush back for the clrl. . If ishe followed even at an ordinary walklnjr pace there might yet be time to set away. He made the plane In short order and got the dead policeman to the cabin by way of the wlnR. Leaping off, he rushed back at top speed to meet Llllth. ne had to po all the way to where he had left her. She had slung the snowshoes on her back, floundered through the first drift, and collapsed. When he came op, she was rubbing snow on her bared ankle. She looked op at him, white-faced with pain and despair. "I tried. Alan. I can't even walk," she said. "Go back. It'a all my fault. Hurry and save yourself. Maybe I can delay hlm.H For reply, Garth awung her tip across his shoulders and headed again for the plane. There still might be time. He put all his strength Into another burst of speed. j They came to the glncler stream, with no sight or sound of the pursuers pur-suers behind them. Garth lifted the girl from his shoulder and set her on the front edge of the monoplane wing. He grasped hold to vault up beside her. A bullet fanned the girl's pain-whitened pain-whitened cheek. Another bullet struck the wing edge between her and Garth. He Jerked her down off the wing. The firing ceased. After murdering Constable Dillon but before starting to trail Garth, Huxty must have sent one of his men running along the foot of the tundra slope to take possession of the planes. Garth had outrun the miner. But the man had come within with-in easy rifle range and clear ylew of the plane at least of Its upper parts. Garth did not hesitate a split second. sec-ond. He carried Llllth to the mooring moor-ing tree and slashed the line with his knife. Then, taking the girl pickaback, be set off up the stream bank. His one backward glance showed him that the plane was drifting out into the lake. But, the cross-wind had died down. The lessened stream current could be counted upon to carry the plane out beyond reach before It was stopped by the skim Ice. The rifleman op on the edw of the tundra was off to the right of the stream. Garth knew he had a thick screen of spruce, trees and scrub all the way to tlmberllne. As he climbed, the man above began to yell and halloo. Garth-had-'no doubt that the fellow was shouting about the outdrlft of the cabin plane. Before long, other yells came from the lake shore. They were followed by rifle shots. It was easy to guess that one or more of the pursuers had sighted the plane and opened fire, on the supposition that Garth was hiding In the cockpit Garth moderated his rush. Even so, his steady uphill slogging brought him near tlmberllne before the four men got together down at the lake shore. For the first time since leaving the plane, he spoke to Llllth: "Try holding out farther from my neck, Miss Ramlll. We're safe enough now. We're climbing faster than they can wade the drifts." With less than a hundred paces, Garth saw a whitish pall surge out from the down-rolling clouds on the western mountain side. A snow-splttlng snow-splttlng wind-gust whooshed aslant the tundra slope. He turned sharp to the left and headed uphill towards the foot of the glacier. Before be had covered another hundred paces, the air was thick with snow. Fortunately for Llllth, the storm vuna nnlv nn enrlv autumn blizzard. It to the far side' of the tree trunk. During all the many seconds that had passed since the firing of the first shot, he bad heard no call nor any sound whatever from Constable Dillon. He peered out under the low drooped spruce boughs on that aide of the tree. As he expected, the worst had happened. The policeman lay on his back, ne had been shot through the heart. One glance told Garth the fact that bis companion was beyond be-yond all aid. He looked for the constable's carbine. car-bine. It was nowhere In sight The low drift behind which Dillon had fallen gave Garth enough cover to crawl out beside the body. But the carbine was not under Its owner. Garth pulled the snowshoes from the feet of the dead man. On the heel of one web he perched the constable's con-stable's cnp. He reached out sideways side-ways and lifted the cap so that It peered above the top of the drift. The cap flipped back off the snow-shoes snow-shoes pierced through by a bullet from the scrub behind the fire. At the roar of the shot, Garth bobbed up three feet to the left to look for the missing carbine. It lay half hurled In the snow, a long ten feet away. When shot, Dillon must have flung out his hands as he pitched over backwards. Huxby had proved he could shoot a rifle with deadly accuracy, and his men were nearly as expert To make a dash for the carbine would be equivalent to committing suicide. To He quiet would give the killers time to realize there was no rifle waiting to meet their attack. The fourth man might already be circling cir-cling to creep In from the rear. With his knife Garth slashed out the webs of Dillon's snowshoes. Then, worming his wa backwards, he started to drag the body down-slope. down-slope. The tree put him under cover from the two killers near the fire. A drift enabled him to crawl to another tree without being see"n by the man off to fhe left. A sideward shift brought him to the shallow channel of the frozen spring rill. He swung the body of the constable across his shoulders, stepped Into his snowshoes, and ran aslant downslope. Every few seconds that passed without the roar of a rifle behind him. meant a widened margin of safety. Whatever the cause of their delay, de-lay, be bad gained a long start before be-fore more yells told him they had cut his tralL At the outburst. Garth eased off a little on his desperate speed. His fast mushing bad already covered three-fourths of the distance dis-tance to the stream. It was now a simple matter of running on to Increase In-crease his handicap over the killers. kill-ers. Only a little time would be needed to cast free the cabin plane. Aa she drifted out In the current, the cross-wind would awing her around. Then a quick run out the water lane, and the take-off" Close ahead, he caught sight of Llllth Ramlll. She was sitting on For the First Time Since Leaving the Plane, He Spoke to Llllth. He picked the girl up In her skin wrappings, and carried her out and around to the Igloo, then went back for the rest of the skins, the lamp and some of the meat While she went on with her cooking, cook-ing, over the re-lighted lamp, he cut more blocks and built a low entrance tunnel from the door to part way around the curve of the Igloo wall. When he backed In, he blocked the mouth of the tunnel with a snow slab. The Inside of the Igloo was already al-ready so warm from the lamp heat that the Inside of the dome roof was beginning to soften. But Garth knew there was no slightest danger of It falling In. As fast as the snow melted, the moisture was sucked outwards. It met the cold of the outside air and froze hard. The girl had a stack of caribou steaks broiled for him. He sut down, without a word, and began to eat. In the midst of the menl the smoke and heat became so stifling that he had to cut a two-Inch ventilation ven-tilation hole in the roof. All the time he gave no sign that he perceived the look of misery In LUIth's eyes. But when be had eaten his fill, he spoke a sudden order: or-der: "Bare your foot" She obeyed, tensely silent He looked close at the swollen ankle In the lamplight and felt It with his finger tips. Easy aa was his touch, Llllth gasped with pain. But be smiled bia relief. "No broken bone or dislocation; only a sprain. Tou'll soon be all right. Start packing It with softened snow. Keep it as cold a you can without freezing." At that, all her nent-un emotion CHAPTER IX Continued 14 Instead of turning back at the glrl'a cry of appeal. Garth quickened quick-ened his stride to a run. A severe blizzard would thicken the akim Ice and cloee the water lane out from the stream mouth. That would mean a. wait until the stream ran dry with the freeze-up of the glacier. gla-cier. Above the site of bis old camp Garth halted and signed for bis companion to listen, Down through the snowy stillness came a clear ring of metal on metaL "They're drilling below the frost-line frost-line to blast a shaft," he said. "Richer gravel on bedrock, at the foot of the placer trough." Dillon forged Into the lead. "You'll trail me now, sir." Without any protest Garth fell In behind. The Law was now In command. com-mand. A few strides brought them to the dyke of igneous rock that walled the lower end of the placer trough. From behind a stunted spruce, they peered across the treeless tree-less width of rock to where a large fire was flaming at the edge of the matted tlmberllne scrub.- Over the fire hung three big Iron kettles. Beside it stood a small cradle for rocking gravel. But there was no one working the rocker, nor was there anyone In sight. Even the ring of sledge on drill In the newly dug pit Just beyond the Are, had ceased. "Not so good," Garth murmured. "I'm not so sure It's a surprise." "You'll stay here, sir." No." Constable Dillon spoke with cool logic: "If it's a surprise, I need no assistance. If he is warned and prepared to resist, better for you to support me from cover." "Well perhaps." "The only way, sir. You stood responsible re-sponsible for bringing the young lady." "Very well, Dillon," he agreed. "Wait till I take position." He shifted to the left side of the stunted spruce and crouched down where he could peer between the lower branches. At the other side, the constable stood up and stepped out Into the open. Hardly was he clear of cover when a harsh shout came from the scrub beside the fire: "Haiti Throw op your hands." Constable Dillon paused. But he did not put op his bands. Tbe Northwest police do not surrender. Dillon merely swung the barrel of bis carbine backward onder bis arm, and made quiet reply: "I have here a warrant for the arrest of Vivian Huxby for theft and assault to murder. Any persons per-sons who Interfere with his arrest will make themselves liable." "Bah, you cock-capped red Jay, yon can't bluff me," Huxby gibed. "You're covered. Move, and you get a bullet through you. Drop that gun and shove op your bands." A sideward Jumping down-thrown would have put the constable back In cover. But be was a member of the Northwest Mounted Police. Retreat Re-treat could no more be considered by him than surrender. Also, be had no authority to shoot his man. The warrant called only for the arrest ar-rest of the accused. He had to do his duty at whatever risk. "You will be well advised not to resist," he said. With that he raised his right anowshoe and slid it op a low cross-drift cross-drift In a forward step. As he bent forward to bring up the other web, a rifle roared In the dense shrub. Garth fired Into the faint haze-puff haze-puff of smokeless powder. Back came a bullet that clipped a branch at his left elbow. He shifted sideways side-ways towards the tree trunk, and rose to peer through a higher opening. open-ing. A alight movement of a spruce spray In the scrub brought bis rifle to bis shoulder. Another twitch of that spruce twig. His finger tightened on the trigger Crash I He hurled down on his right side. The first thought that flashed Into his mind was that bis rifle had burst His right arm had gone numb as If broken by the shock. Luckily, he did not at once try to spring op. Aa he paused to feel at the numb arm with his left band, the bark flew from a limb close over his head. The scar of white wood showed that the bullet had been fired from off to bis left He flattened down and crawled Into the snowless hollow alongside the tree trunk. In the hollow lay his rifle. It had not burst But that was no consolation. The first shot from off to the left had struck square against the side of the breech and smashed the magazine. One look at the weapon showed that V was mined. He wormed past burst out: "Oh, how you must despise de-spise me I Get you Into this frightful fright-ful danger then go lame I A helpless, help-less, useless drag on you I That beastly coward he'll hunt you out . . . murder you like the poor policeman. po-liceman. And all Iny fault I" Garth shook his head. "You take too much of the credit, Miss Ra-mill. Ra-mill. So far as regards Constable Dillon, the result would have been the same If you had stayed at Fort Simpson." "But but you can't get away!" Garth's smile hardened. "Neither can they. Now tend to your ankle. I'm going for meat" He dressed and crawled out Into the storm. When at last he came back in, he had brought nearly half of the caribou meat from the Ice cave and stacked it around the Igloo. Ig-loo. He had also set np blocks of snow-crust to shape a drift of new snow In a certain way. (TO BE CONTINUED) not a 30 or 40 below zero gale of the subarctic winter. The rabbit-fur undersult Inside the buckskins saved ber. Though greatly chilled, she was only slightly frostbitten when Garth reached the brink. of the lateral moraine, a little below the foot of the glacier. v He went out across the rock-strewn rock-strewn gulch bed. Within a few moments Llllth suddenly found herself her-self out of the wind and snow and the white gloom of the storm. She could not see. A match flared In Garth's upraised up-raised band. The light glinted and sparkled on Ice walls. She was In the mouth of tbe cave, up Inside the glacier-stream tunnel. The rock floor was heaped with the caribou meat At the side of the entrance by the pothole stone that Garth had made Into an Eskimo lamp. He pointed to an outspread caribou skin. "Crawl In on that Then rub your face and pound yourself." She scrambled to the skin mat, her teeth clenched on her lip to keep from crying out from the pain of ber ankle. Garth bad struck another match and held It to the moss wick of the stone lamp. Li 1Kb had already rubbed ber frost-whitened cheeks and nose Into a glow. He laid his belt-ax on a hind-quarter of caribou, and smiled at her In the growing light of the wick. "Chop off a shank or two. We'll need bone spits," he said. "But first warm some of the other skins and wrap them around you. Also put more fat In the lamp. I'll be gone two or three hours." Over near the far end of the glacier front, be found a drift with a four-Inch crust packed by the He Swung the Body of the Con stable Across His Shoulders. her snowshoes. Her right foot was drawn up on her left knee, and she was rubbing bard at tbe ankle. At sight of the limp body on Garth'a shoulders, she started op, horrified. "Oh, oh, Alan I la Is he . hurt?" i "Murdered. And yon G d I you ' here, all this way from the plane. ! Rifle gone. They're coming. Get j up go back." t "Coming I" she cried. "That mur-: dererl Hell kill yon. too! Go on,1 Alan. Hurry. Til follow." J She turned around on her rlsht |