giving himself a ride,"
explained Johnny, "but if it's as bad as that, it must be pretty bad.
He's desperate, that's all. The outer tower's likely to go over at any
moment and dash him to death. Even if he makes it, where'll he be? Going
out to sea on the floe, that's all."

Slowly the platform crept across the space over the black waters, then
over the tumbling ice. The outer tower could be seen to dip in toward
the shore. The cable sagged. The two other runners were nearing the
inner tower.

"C'mon!" exclaimed Johnny, "The Golden West. A telescope!"

Closely followed by Hanada, he leaped away toward the hotel where, in a
room especially prepared for it, was a huge brass telescope mounted on a
tripod. Johnny, glancing out to sea, knew that the tower would be over
in another thirty seconds. The platform was not twenty feet from its
goal. His eye was now at the telescope. One second and he swung the
instrument about. Then a gasp escaped his lips:

"The Russian!"

"The Russian?" Hanada snatched the telescope from him.

As Johnny watched he saw the man leap just as the platform lurched
backward. The two men at the other tower had reversed the motor, but
they were too late.

The next moment the outer tower toppled into the sea; the cable cut the
water with a resounding swish. Johnny saw the Russian leap from ice cake
to ice cake until at last he disappeared behind a giant pile, safe on a
broad field of solid ice.

Hanada sat down. His face was white.

"Gone!" he muttered hoarsely.

"A boat?" suggested Johnny.

"No good. The ice floe's two miles wide, forty miles long and all piled
up. Couldn't find him. He'd never give himself up. But he'll come back."

"How?"

"I don't know, but he'll come. You'll see. He's a devil, that one. But
we'll get him yet."

"And the thousand," suggested Johnny.

Hanada looked at him in disgust. "A thousand dollars! What is that?"

"Is it as bad as that?" Johnny smiled in spite of himself.

"Yes, and worse, many times worse. I tell you, we must get that man!
When the time comes, we must get him, or it will be worse for your
country and mine."

"Ours is the same country," suggested Johnny.

"Huh!" Hanada shrugged his shoulders. "I am Hanada, your old schoolmate,
now a member of the Japanese Secret Police, and you are Johnny Thompson.
Whatever else you are, I don't know. The Russian has left us for a time.
Let's talk about those old school days, and forget."

And they did