not trouble us."

The soldier smiled grimly. "That's not the way of the Mounted. Get the
fellow you're sent after. That's our motto. I've been assigned the job
of bringing in West and I've got to get him."

"You don't mean you're going up there alone to bring back that--that
wolf-man?"

"Oh, no," the trooper answered lightly. "I'll have a Cree along as a
guide."

"A Cree," she scoffed. "What good will he be if you find West? He'll
not help you against him at all."

"Not what he's with me for. I'm not supposed to need any help to bring
back one man."

"It's--it's just suicide to go after him alone," she persisted. "Look
what he did to the guard at the prison, to Mr. Whaley, to Onistah!
He's just awful--hardly human."

"The lad's under orders, lass," McRae told her. "Gin they send him
into the North after West, he'll just have to go. He canna argy-bargy
aboot it."

Jessie gave up, reluctantly.

The little cavalcade started. Morse drove. The girl brought up the
rear.

Her mind was still on the hazard of the journey Beresford must take.
When Morse stopped to rest the dogs for a few moments, she tucked up
Onistah again and recurred to the subject.

"I don't think Win Beresford should go after West alone except for a
Cree guide. The Inspector ought to send another constable with him. Or
two more. If he knew that man--how cruel and savage he is--"

Tom Morse spoke quietly. "He's not going alone. I'll be with him."

She stared. "You?"

"Yes. Sworn in as a deputy constable."

"But--he didn't say you were going when I spoke to him about it a
little while ago."

"He didn't know. I've made up my mind since."

In point of fact he had come to a decision three seconds before he
announced it.

Her soft eyes applauded him. "That'll be fine. His friends won't
worry so much if you're with him. But--of course you know it'll be a
horrible trip--and dangerous."

"No picnic," he admitted.

She continued to look at him, her cheeks flushed and her face vivid.
"You must like Win a lot. Not many men would go."

"We're good friends," Morse answered dryly. "Anyhow, I owe West
something on my own account."

The real reason why he was going he had not given. During the days she
had been lost he had been on the rack of torture. He did not want her
to suffer months of such mental distress while the man she loved was
facing alone the peril of his grim work in the white Arctic desert.

They resumed the journey.

Jessie