er words even more slowly. "Uppy,
listen to me. If you let them come up with us--unless you get us to
Fort Confidence--I will kill you. Do you understand?"

She poked her revolver a foot nearer, and Uppy nodded emphatically. She
smiled. It was almost funny to see Uppy's understanding liven up at the
point of the gun, and she felt a thrill that tingled to her
finger-tips. The little devils of adventure were wide-awake in her,
and, smiling at Uppy, she told him to hold up the end of his driving
whip. He obeyed. The revolver flashed, and a muffled yell came from him
as he felt the shock of the bullet as it struck fairly against the butt
of his whip. In the same instant there came a snarling deep-throated
growl from Wapi. From the sledge Peter gave a cry of warning. Uppy
shrank back, and Dolores cried out sharply and put herself swiftly
between Wapi and the Eskimo. The huge dog, ready to spring, slunk back
to the end of the sledge at the command of her voice. She patted his
big head before she got on the sledge behind Peter.

There was no indecision in the manner of Uppy's going now. He struck
out swift and straight for the pale constellation of stars that hung
over Fort Confidence. It was splendid traveling. The surface of the
arctic plain was frozen solid. What little wind there was came from
behind them, and the dogs were big and fresh. Uppy ran briskly,
snapping the lash of his whip and la-looing to the dogs in the manner
of the Eskimo driver. Dolores did not wait for Peter's demand for a
further explanation of their running away and her remarkable words to
Blake. She told him. She omitted, for the sake of Peter's peace of
mind, the physical insults she had suffered at Captain Rydal's hands.
She did not tell him that Rydal had forced her into his arms a few
hours before and kissed her. What she did reveal made Peter's arms and
shoulders grow tense and he groaned in his helplessness.

"If you'd only told me!" he protested. Dolores laughed triumphantly,
with her arm about his shoulder. "I knew my dear old Peter too well for
that," she exulted. "If I had told you, what a pretty mess we'd be in
now, Peter! You would have insisted on calling Captain Rydal into our
cabin and shooting him from the bed--and then where would we have been?
Don't you think I'm handling it pretty well, Peter dear?"

Peter's reply was smothered against her hooded cheek.

He began to question her more directly now, and with his ability to
grasp