Hoping to learn something of what Mistak intended to do with Sandy and him, Dick motioned to his chum to remain where he was and crawled in the hole that served as the entrance of the igloo. A huge cake of snow had been carelessly pushed up against the outside of the hole and placing one ear against this, Dick could hear Mistak’s voice quite plainly. He seemed to be speaking to the white man in the outfit.
“I tell you zat we cannot bozzer wis zee two young ones. It ees best we put them where zay cannot talk. You see?” Mistak was saying.
The other man swore, then replied loudly: “You know we got enough blood on our hands now, Mistak, to send us over the road for life. It’ll be hangin’ for you an’ me if we put these yonkers out of the way right under the noses of the mounted.”
“Well, zen, what you say we put zem wiz Thalman?”
Thalman! That was the name of the lost corporal! Dick electrified with eagerness to hear more, but the two walked off a little way out of earshot. He crawled back to Sandy, confiding what he had heard.
“According to that, Corporal Thalman must be alive alright,” Sandy observed.
“Yes, but the question is, do we want to go where he is as Mistak hinted. It looks like Thalman is in a pretty tight prison or he’d have gotten out by this time. And we can help him more on the outside than on the inside. Besides I don’t trust this Mistak a little bit. He’d cut our throats in a minute if the white man agreed. We’d better see if we can’t escape.”
“If there was any darkness to do it in, we might get away,” Sandy retorted, “but in this never-ending daylight, I don’t see how we can do it.”
“Listen—I’ve a plan,” Dick drew closer to his chum, and began in a whisper. “When we came up I could see that this igloo was built on a long snowdrift that stretches clear to a ravine on the right. We still have our knives and with these we can dig a tunnel under the snow.”
“But suppose they come in while we’re working?”
“I thought of that. We’ll work one at a time, while one keeps watch at the entrance of the igloo. At first we can jump up out of the tunnel, which we’ll start in the floor, and lie down over it with our bedding. If they come clear inside they’ll think we’re sleeping.”