Most of that night Wabi and his friend sat up and talked, and made plans.

It was believed that the campaign against the Woongas would be a short and decisive one.

By spring all trouble would be over.
"And you'll come back as soon as you can ?" pleaded Wabi for the hundredth time.

"You'll come back by the time the ice breaks up ?" "If I am alive!" pledged the city youth.
"And you'll bring your mother ?" "She has promised." "And then--for the gold!" "For the gold!" Wabi held out his hand and the two gripped heartily.
"And Minnetaki will be here then--I swear it!" said the Indian youth, laughing.
Rod blushed.
And that night alone he slipped quietly out into the still, white night; and he looked, longingly, far into the southeast where he had found the footprint in the snow; and he turned to the north, and the east, and the west, and lastly to the south, and his eyes seemed to travel through the distance of a thousand miles to where a home and a mother lay sleeping in a great city.

And as he turned back to the House of Wabinosh, where all the lights were out, he spoke softly to himself: "It's home--to-morrow!" And then he added: "But you bet I'll be back by the time the ice breaks up!" THE END.