and Crawford out in
the morning to try and pick up his tracks if it don't snow during the
night and cover them up."

But long before midnight it came on to snow again, so heavily that they
all knew that a fresh ski track would not have lasted an hour. Early
the next morning Leland, Garth Conway, Sledge Hume and MacKelvey with
his deputies went out of the valley upon skis or snow shoes. Helga
Strawn went with them, shrugging her shoulders at Leland's blunt
assurance that it would be a good ten miles of hard work before they
could expect to take to the horses waiting beyond the heavy snow line.

Mr. Dart did not go with them. He had settled that fact for himself
very positively before going to bed the night before.

"In the first place," he decided, "Red might need me to smuggle him
some grub or something and I got to be on hand. In the second place I
had enough trying to ride two slippery sticks yesterday. Split myself
in two for ten miles on a pair of devil's toboggans? Thanks awfully.
I'll stay here and split stovewood for Julia."

"Where's Dart?" demanded Leland when the men were pushing back their
chairs from the breakfast table.

Nobody knew. He had not been seen since last evening. Julia, hastily
returning from quest of him, brought back word that he was in bed and
that she was afraid that he was unwell. She had heard him groaning.

"The little fool is faking," cried Martin, ready this morning to fly
into a rage over trifles. "Does he think I'm going to have him
sticking around the place all winter?"

He flung himself from the table and went heavily up the stairs to
Dart's room in the attic.

"Come out of that," he said roughly, throwing the door open. "We are
going to start right away. You'd better get some breakfast in a hurry
if you want any."

"Breakfast?" moaned Dart weakly. "Good God, Mart. Don't say breakfast
to me or I'll die."

"What's the matter?" asked Martin roughly and suspiciously. "You
weren't sick last night."

He came closer to the huddled figure. Dart's hands were shaking, his
face was as white as a sheet.

"It came on sudden," he said faintly. "I--I've had it before. I--I
think I'm dying this time. Has Mamma Leland got a Bible?"

Suddenly, before Leland's astonished eyes, the little man began a
violent retching and vomiting. Leland went back down the stairs,
swearing, and sent Julia with word to Mrs. Leland that Dart was really
sick.

Dart got out of bed, h