“I’ll start this afternoon if you say the word, sergeant.”
“No. You need a few hours in which to rest up. Tomorrow will do almost as well.”
With a nod and a smile for both of them, the policeman turned quickly and strode out of the room.
Through an opaque darkness filled with the oppressive silence of Arctic night, Dick and Toma made their way. A few stars had come out like wayward wanderers. On every side were gray, unfamiliar shapes. Objects were shadowy and indistinct. Wolves and coyotes made the only sound heard across that weird and mysterious wilderness.
“We ought to find him pretty soon, Toma,” Dick broke forth. “We’ve been travelling for an hour now, and I’m sure we’ve been making better progress than the pack-train.”
They came to the foot of a slope and started up, side by side, their moccasined feet swishing through the freshly fallen snow. Gaining the summit of the hill, they paused for breath. Then the quick ears of the guide, straining always for some sound that might be significant, detected a faint rustling ahead.
“I hear him. We go careful now. Mebbe him Corporal Rand. But no take chances. Not always be too sure.”
Rand it was. He stood waiting for them, one hand on his hip, the other raised in a warning gesture.
“They’re ahead—not more than a few rods. Listen, and you can hear them.”
“Yes, I can hear something,” whispered Dick. “Did you think we were never coming, corporal?”
“As a matter of fact,” Rand answered him, “I didn’t expect you for another half hour. You’ve made good time.”
The three started forward slowly, keeping always within sound of the cavalcade in front. Sometimes they approached so closely that they could hear the voices of the packers and occasionally the snarling of the dogs. Soon they had learned something of importance: La Qua’s pack-train consisted both of ponies and dog teams. There were seven or eight horses, in addition to four teams of huskies.
“You see,” explained Rand, “La Qua was in a predicament. The snow storm interfered with his plans. His original intention, evidently, was to take only pack-horses. The heavy snow made this inadvisable. But he didn’t have as many dog teams as he required to move away the cache. So he was forced to use the ponies as well.”
