them. They were simply pools of blue flame. And
she, too, rose to her feet.

"Then--I can expect--no help--from you."

"I didn't say that, Mrs. Keith. It shocks you to know that I am
responsible. But up here, you must understand the code of ethics is a
great deal different from yours. We figure that what I have done for
Rydal and his crew keeps sane men from going mad during the long months
of darkness. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to help you--and
Peter. I think I shall. But you must give me a little time in which to
consider the matter--say an hour or so. I understand that whatever is
to be done must be done quickly. If I make up my mind to take you to
Fort Confidence, we shall start within two or three hours. I shall
bring you word aboard ship. So you might return and prepare yourself
and Peter for a probable emergency."

She went out dumbly into the night, Blake seeing her to the door and
closing it after her. He was courteous in his icy way but did not offer
to escort her back to the ship. She was glad. Her heart was choking her
with hope and fear. She had measured him differently this time. And she
was afraid. She had caught a glimpse that had taken her beyond the man,
to the monster. It made her shudder. And yet what did it matter, if
Blake helped them?

She had forgotten Wapi. Now she found him again close at her side, and
she dropped a hand to his big head as she hurried back through the
pallid gloom. She spoke to him, crying out with sobbing breath what she
had not dared to reveal to Blake. For Wapi the long night had ceased to
be a hell of ghastly emptiness, and to her voice and the touch of her
hand he responded with a whine that was the whine of a white man's dog.
They had traveled two-thirds of the distance to the ship when he
stopped in his tracks and sniffed the wind that was coming from shore.
A second time he did this, and a third, and the third time Dolores
turned with him and faced the direction from which they had come. A low
growl rose in Wapi's throat, a snarl of menace with a note of warning
in it.

"What is it, Wapi?" whispered Dolores. She heard his long fangs click,
and under her hand she felt his body grow tense. "What is it?" she
repeated.

A thrill, a suspicion, shot into her heart as they went on. A fourth
time Wapi faced the shore and growled before they reached the ship.
Like shadows they went up over the ice bridge. Dolores did not enter
the cabin but drew Wapi behind it