g him.

* * * * *

That evening he let the fire die out of the stove in his room, then went
next door to a little Turkish-bath establishment, and proceeded to sweat
for an hour. Instead of drying himself off he flung a greatcoat over his
streaming shoulders, slipped into boots and trousers, then stepped
across the snow-packed yard to his own quarters, where he found DeVoe
bundled up to the chin and waiting. His brief passage across the open
snow had chilled him, for the wind was cruel, but he blew out the light
in his chamber, flung off his overcoat, then, standing in the open door,
drank the frost-burdened air into his overheated lungs.

"God! You're half naked!" chattered the onlooker. "You'll freeze."

The moisture upon Murray's body dried slowly. He began to shake in every
muscle, but he continued his long, deep breaths--breaths that congealed
his lungs. He became cramped and stiff. He suffered terribly. He felt
constricting bands about his chest; darting, numbing pains ran through
him. He could not tell how long he continued thus, but eventually the
sheer agony of it drove him back. He closed the door and crept into bed,
the clammy cotton sheets of which were warm against his flesh. Through
rattling teeth he bade good night to his friend, saying:

"D-don't mind--anything I do or--say during the night."

DeVoe lost no time in seeking his own warm room, where Murray heard him
stamping and threshing his arms to revive his circulation.

There could be but one outcome to such a suicidal action, the frozen man
reflected. Stronger fellows than he were dying daily from half such
exposure. Why, already he could feel his lungs congesting. Although the
agony was almost unendurable, he forced himself to lie still, then
traced the course of his blood as it gradually crept through his veins.
Eventually he fell asleep, tortured, but satisfied.

Henry found him slumbering peacefully late the next morning, and when he
arose he felt better and stronger than he had for years.

"Jove! I'm hungry," he said as he dressed himself.

"I expected to find you mighty sick," his friend exclaimed, wonderingly.
"I slept cold all night."

"It seems I didn't catch it that time. I must be stronger than I
thought."

He ate a hearty breakfast, and, although he tramped the hills all day in
the snow and cold, watching himself carefully for signs of approaching
illness, he was disappointed to discover none wha