e. They were trusty comrades! As for myself, I have no kith
or kin--"

His voice suddenly dwindled to a whisper, and a spasm shook him from
head to foot. His glassy eyes closed, he lifted one hand and dropped it,
and then his heaving chest was still.

"Is he dead?" I exclaimed.

"Ay, that was his last breath," replied Carteret. "He went quickly."

"The excitement finished him," said Captain Rudstone. "But listen! What
is that?"

We looked at one another with startled faces. Far, far above us we heard
a roaring, grinding noise, increasing each second. And we knew only too
well what it meant!

"A snowslide--an avalanche!" cried Captain Rudstone. "It has started at
the top, and will carry everything before it down the hill."

"Ran for your lives!" shouted Carteret. "We're in the track, and will
hardly escape as it is!"

In a trice we were out of the lean-to, panic-stricken and alarmed,
thinking of nothing but our lives; for of all perils of the Great Lone
Land, the snow slide, with its speed and destructive power, was the most
to be dreaded. We forgot the dead man--the gold under his pillow. We
sped down the valley as though on wings, not daring to look up the
hillside, where the avalanche was cleaving its way with a deafening
noise, with the crash of falling trees, the grind of dislodged bowlders,
and the roar of tons and tons of loosened snow. And the monster seemed
to be reaching for us!

Flora's dear face took shape before me in the frosty air, and I fancied
I could hear her voice pleading with me to remain at the fort. Should I
ever return to her arms again? The thought lent me speed, and I out
distanced my companions. The next instant I tripped in a clump of bushes
and fell headlong, and plump on top of me came Carteret and Captain
Rudstone.

We were all three so tangled together that our efforts to extricate
ourselves only led to worse confusion. We broke through the crust and
floundered in soft and powdery snow. As we struggled hard--we had fled
but a short distance--the avalanche struck the valley close behind us.
There was first a mighty crash that made the ground tremble, next a
long, deafening grind like a hundred thunderpeals in one, and then the
hissing rush of a few belated rocks.

Silence followed, and we knew that we were saved. With grateful hearts
and trembling limbs we scrambled out of our pit and regained the firm
crust.

"Thank God!" I exclaimed.

"We had a close shave of it, comrade