"How many will it take to kill me, my dear Croisset ?" The half-breed smiled down into his face again.
"You may thank the Blessed Virgin that they are with us," he replied softly.

"If you have any hope outside of Heaven, M'seur, it is on that sledge behind." As he went again to the dogs, straightening the leader in his traces, Howland stared back at the firelit space in the forest gloom.

He could see a man adding fuel to the blaze, and beyond him, shrouded in the deep shadows of the trees, an indistinct tangle of dogs and sledge.

As he strained his eyes to discover more there was a movement beyond the figure over the fire and the young engineer's heart leaped with a sudden thrill.

Croisset's voice sounded in a shrill shout behind him, and at that warning cry in French the second figure sprang back into the gloom.
But Howland had recognized it, and the chilled blood in his veins leaped into warm life again at the knowledge that it was Meleese who was trailing behind them on the second sledge! "When you yell like that give me a little warning if you please, Jean," he said, speaking as coolly as though he had not recognized the figure that had come for an instant into the firelight.