the day of the third night. He had scarcely dressed when Adare's voice
greeted him from outside the door. It was different now--filled with
the old cheer and booming hopefulness, and Philip smiled as he thought
how this stricken giant of the wilderness was rising out of his own
grief to comfort Josephine and him. They were all at breakfast, and
Philip was delighted to find Josephine looking much better than he had
expected. Miriam had sunk deepest under the strain of the preceding
hours. She was still white and wan. Her hands trembled. She spoke
little. Tenderly Adare tried to raise her spirits.

During the rest of that day Philip saw but little of Josephine, and he
made no effort to intrude himself upon her. Late in the afternoon Jean
asked him if he had made friends with the dogs, and Philip told him of
his experience with them. Not until nine o'clock that night did he know
why the half-breed had asked.

At that hour Adare House had sunk into quiet. Miriam and her husband
had gone to bed, the lights were low. For an hour Philip had listened
for the footsteps which he knew he would hear to-night. At last he knew
that Josephine had come out into the hall. He heard Jean's low voice,
their retreating steps, and then the opening and closing of the door
that let them out into the night. There was a short silence. Then the
door reopened, and some one returned through the hall. The steps
stopped at his own door--a knock--and a moment later he was standing
face to face with Croisset.

"Throw on your coat and cap and come with me, M'sieur," he cried in a
low voice. "And bring your pistol!"

Without a word Philip obeyed. By the time they stood out in the night
his blood was racing in a wild anticipation. Josephine had disappeared.
Jean gripped his arm.

"To-night something may happen," he said, in a voice that was as hard
and cold as the blue lights of the aurora in the polar sky. "It
is--possible. We may need your help. I would have asked Metoosin, but
it would have made him suspicious of something--and he knows nothing.
You have made friends with the dogs? You know Captain?"

"Yes!"

"Then go to them--go as fast as you can, M'sieur. And if you hear a
shot to-night--or a loud cry from out there in the forest, free the
dogs swiftly, Captain first, and run with them to our trail, shouting
'KILL! KILL! KILL!' with every breath you take, and don't stop so long
as there is a footprint in the snow ahead of you or a human bon