nder of his sled.

Narrow chasms constantly cut their trail. With sharp howls the dogs
leaped over these, the sleds passed safely, and by instinct Ootah would
bound forward. Narrower than a man's stride in width, Ootah knew these
slits in the glacial ice were hundreds of feet in depth, that a slip of
the foot might plunge him to immediate death. Now and then he lost his
footing on the uneven ice; his heart leaped for fear, but he held
grimly to the sledge and the lithe, lean but strong dog-bodies carried
him to safety. These faithful animals bounded over the glimmering ice
field with amazing speed. They snapped and barked with the joy of the
race. In the white moonlight the vapor of their breathing enveloped
them like a silvery cloud.

For hours the hunters continued the trail. Their mighty purpose fought
off fatigue. The moon passed behind cumulous mountains of clouds along
the horizon, and periods of darkness blotted the world from Ootah.
Then they traveled in darkness. A chill dampness rising from the
gaping abysses that sundered the ice field told them of their danger;
then Ootah's heart chilled, his teeth were set chattering; but he
thought of Annadoah and the grim need of food, and he gripped the
upstander of his sled more determinedly. When the moon again unclosed
its pearly sheen over the ice, the serpentine chasms moved their
tortuous backs and writhed about them, the icy hummocks billowed, and
the glittering ice-peaked horizon swam in a dizzy circle of diamonded
light.

As their trail ascended higher the penetrating cold dampness somewhat
moderated. In the taut air the sound of their whips was like that of
splitting metal. Shuddering and sepulchral echoes answered the barking
of their dogs. The faithful ghosts of the dogs of fallen hunters were
following their departed masters in the amethystine mists of the
canyons about them. Ootah and Koolotah trembled with the thought of
the dreadful nearness of the dead. Believing other animals to be
ahead, the dogs set up a wilder, shriller howling. Then the echoes
came back with more startling and terrifying proximity. Ootah's flesh
crept. Finally, with an explosive sound, Koolotah let his whip fall.

"_Aulate_--halt!" he called.

They came to a dead standstill.

"_Pst_!" he whispered. He hit the snapping, whining dogs. "_Pst_!"
They crouched to the ground and whined mournfully.

"Dost thou hear?" Koolotah asked in a hushed voice. In the moo