g. Some were crushed as flat as pancakes.

Again, with a pain at my heart, I asked after Berna and her grandfather.
Twin number one said they were both buried under the slide. I gasped and
was seized with sudden faintness. "No," said twin number two, "the old
man is missing, but the girl has escaped and is nearly crazy with
grief. Good-bye."

Once more I hurried on. Gangs of men were shovelling for the dead. Every
now and then a shovel would strike a hand or a skull. Then a shout would
be raised and the poor misshapen body turned out.

Again I put my inquiries. A busy digger paused in his work. He was a
sottish-looking fellow, and there was something of the glare of a ghoul
in his eyes.

"Yes, that must have been the old guy with the whiskers they dug out
early on from the lower end of the slide. Relative, name of Winklestein,
took charge of him. Took him to the tent yonder. Won't let any one go
near."

He pointed to a tent on the hillside, and it was with a heavy heart I
went forward. The poor old man, so gentle, so dignified, with his dream
of a golden treasure that might bring happiness to others. It was cruel,
cruel....

"Say, what d'ye want here? Get to hell outa this."

The words came with a snarl. I looked up in surprise.

There at the door of the tent, all a-bristle like a gutter-bred cur, was
Winklestein.

CHAPTER IX

I stared at the man a moment, for little had I expected so gracious a
reception.

"Mush on, there," he repeated truculently; "you're not wanted 'round
here. Mush! Pretty darned smart."

I felt myself grow suddenly, savagely angry. I measured the man for a
moment and determined I could handle him.

"I want," I said soberly, "to see the body of my old friend."

"You do, do you? Well, you darned well won't. Besides, there ain't no
body here."

"You're a liar!" I observed. "But it's no use wasting words on you. I'm
going on anyhow."

With that I gripped him suddenly and threw him sideways with some force.
One of the tent ropes took away his feet violently, and there on the
snow he sprawled, glowering at me with evil eyes.

"Now," said I, "I've got a gun, and if you try any monkey business, I'll
fix you so quick you won't know what's happened."

The bluff worked. He gathered himself up and followed me into the tent,
looking the picture of malevolent impotence. On the ground lay a longish
object covered with a blanket. With a strange feeling of reluctant
horror I lifted