f his yelping team, and mounting the high
bank heading for the North once more.

There is nothing more exciting than a manhunt when the pursuer is
convinced that his cause is just, and the punishment he intends to inflict
well-merited. Jim, peering through the blinding snow, saw in imagination
the man he sought, all unconscious of the swift justice that was coming
to him from out of the wilderness. This was man's law, whatever the
written law might be. Not for one instant did his determination waver or
his conviction falter. D'Arcy had partaken of forbidden fruit--partaken of
it consciously, without regard for any suffering it might cause to
others--and D'Arcy must pay the penalty!

It was a primitive argument and one that appealed to passions, but he was
in many respects still a primitive man, with primitive ideas of right and
justice. That law was good enough. It had served through all his
experience of Western life, and would serve now!

The storm developed in fury, but still he drove the howling, unwilling
dogs into the teeth of it. Icicles were hanging from his two weeks' growth
of beard, and thick snow covered him from head to foot. Extraordinary luck
favored him, for the snags and pitfalls were innumerable, and any
deviation from the old obliterated trail might launch the whole outfit
down into an abyss. Fortunately he struck the river again without such a
catastrophe happening.

The snow ceased to fall and the sky cleared. The red rim of the sun
peeped over the horizon, flooding the landscape with translucent light.
Before him lay the snow-clad Yukon, broad and gigantic, running between
its high wooded banks, contrary to all precedents, Northwards.

Amid the maze of peaks and valleys, high up on the Endicott Mountains, a
strange affray was taking place. In a small hut, sandwiched between two
perpendicular ice-walls, three men crouched at holes newly bored through
the log sides. They were D'Arcy and his two companions, Lonagon and
Shanks.

It was Lonagon who had first struck gold in this desolate region, late in
the summer, whilst engaged in hunting caribou. Shanks had gone in with him
on a fifty-fifty basis, but both lacked the wherewithal to finance a trip
so far North. Against their desire they were obliged to take in a third
person. D'Arcy, having assured himself that Lonagon was no liar, put up
the money to buy food and gear and joined in. The idea was to thaw out the
frozen pay dirt all through the wi