“I’ll take another,” he said faintly.  “It’s mighty good!”

He drank the second cup with even greater relish.  Then he sat bolt upright, stretched out his arms, and with his companion’s assistance staggered to his feet.  His bloodshot eyes burned with a strange excitement as he looked at Rod.

“I was afraid—­I wouldn’t—­catch you!”

“What is it, Wabi?  What has happened?  You say—­Minnetaki—­”

“Has been captured by the Woongas.  Chief Woonga himself is her captor, and they are taking her into the North.  Rod, only you can save her!”

“Only—­I—­can—­save—­her?” gasped Rod slowly.  “What do you mean?”

“Listen!” cried the Indian boy, clutching him by the arm.  “You remember that after our fight with the Woongas and our escape from the chasm we fled to the south, and that the next day, while you were away from camp hunting for some animal that would give us fat for Mukoki’s wound, you discovered a trail.  You told us that you followed the sledge tracks, and that after a time the party had been met by others on snow-shoes, and that among the imprints in the snow was one that made you think of Minnetaki.  When we reached the Post we learned that Minnetaki and two sledges had gone to Kenegami House and at once concluded that those snow-shoe trails were made by Kenegami people sent out to meet her.  But they were not!  They were made by Woongas!

“One of the guides, who escaped with a severe wound, brought the news to us last night, and the doctor at the Post says that his hurt is fatal and that he will not live another day.  Everything depends on you.  You and the dying guide are the only two who know where to find the place where the attack was made.  It has been thawing for two days and the trail may be obliterated.  But you saw Minnetaki’s footprints.  You saw the snow-shoe trails.  You—­and you alone—­know which way they went!”

Wabi spoke rapidly, excitedly, and then sank down on the sledge, weakened by his exertion.

“We have been chasing you with two teams since dawn,” he added, “and pretty nearly killed the dogs.  As a last chance we doubled up the teams and I came on alone.  I left Mukoki a dozen miles back on the trail.”

Rod’s blood had turned cold with horror at the knowledge that Minnetaki was in the clutches of Woonga himself.  The terrible change in Wabi was no longer a mystery.  Both Minnetaki and her brother had told him more than once of the relentless feud waged against Wabinosh House by this bloodthirsty savage and during the last winter he had come into personal contact with it.  He had fought, had seen people die, and had almost fallen a victim to Woonga’s vengeance.