im
all the gold I had, and told him the truth, and offered to furnish him
with such information as would enable him to go up and stake the rich
bonanza which I had left behind on the Squaw River--all this if he
would only help me to escape. He agreed to accept my terms, despite
the risks he was taking in helping to conceal a criminal. He told me
that you were up here, and said that it was no good going East, or
striking down to the States, since all the railroads would be watched,
and that my only chance lay in making a dash due north for Keewatin.
He gave me a guide for the first three hundred miles of the journey,
and the swiftest team of huskies he had. He smuggled me out to
Selkirk, and gave me introductions to such men as could be trusted on
the way. Before I left, I heard that they had made me an outlaw by
placing a thousand dollars on my head.

"I've travelled day and night since then, only halting when my
strength gave out, or when I had to hide till darkness came that I
might pass unobserved by a Company's outpost.

"And I'm followed; I know that. I have not seen him, but I can feel
that he is drawing nearer, and now is not far behind. I knew that if
I could reach you, in spite of what has happened between us, you would
save me. Granger, you must save me, if not for the sake of what I am,
then because of what I once was to you in our London days. I know that
I've deteriorated and have become bad; but it was more the fault of
the country than of the man. You know what happens to a fellow who
lives up there, how greedy and gloomy he gets, always feeling that the
gold is underground and that he must get to it even at the expense of
his honour and his life. You've felt it, you came near doing what I
have done. If Mordaunt hadn't stopped you, you would have stood where
I now stand."

Granger broke in upon the frenzy of his appeal, asking abruptly,
"Where is Mordaunt now?"

If his face had not been in the shadow, Granger would have seen how
Spurling's lips tightened as to withstand sudden pain, and his body
shuddered at that question. "Oh, Mordaunt is all right," he said. "He
left the Yukon soon after you left--he said that the fun was spoilt
without you. I daresay he's seeking for El Dorado or else is married."

"You are sure of that?" asked Granger.

"Sure of what? All I know is that he quarrelled with me over your
affair because he thought that I had not used you justly; shortly
afterwards we broke up our