“How did you make out?  How’re the boys?  What became of Bill Smithers?  Is Del Bishop still with Pierce?  Did he sell my dogs?  How did Sulphur Bottom show up?  You’re looking fine.  What steamer did you come out on?”

To all of which Churchill gave answer, till half an hour had gone by and the first lull in the conversation had arrived.

“Hadn’t you better take a look at it?” he suggested, nodding his head at the gripsack.

“Oh, it’s all right,” Bondell answered.  “Did Mitchell’s dump turn out as much as he expected?”

“I think you’d better look at it,” Churchill insisted.  “When I deliver a thing, I want to be satisfied that it’s all right.  There’s always the chance that somebody might have got into it when I was asleep, or something.”

“It’s nothing important, old man,” Bondell answered, with a laugh.

“Nothing important,” Churchill echoed in a faint, small voice.  Then he spoke with decision:  “Louis, what’s in that bag?  I want to know.”

Louis looked at him curiously, then left the room and returned with a bunch of keys.  He inserted his hand and drew out a heavy Colt’s revolver.  Next came out a few boxes of ammunition for the revolver and several boxes of Winchester cartridges.

Churchill took the gripsack and looked into it.  Then he turned it upside down and shook it gently.

“The gun’s all rusted,” Bondell said.  “Must have been out in the rain.”

“Yes,” Churchill answered.  “Too bad it got wet.  I guess I was a bit careless.”

He got up and went outside.  Ten minutes later Louis Bondell went out and found him on the steps, sitting down, elbows on knees and chin on hands, gazing steadfastly out into the darkness.

TO BUILD A FIRE

Day had broken cold and grey, exceedingly cold and grey, when the man turned aside from the main Yukon trail and climbed the high earth-bank, where a dim and little-travelled trail led eastward through the fat spruce timberland.  It was a steep bank, and he paused for breath at the top, excusing the act to himself by looking at his watch.  It was nine o’clock.  There was no sun nor hint of sun, though there was not a cloud in the sky.  It was a clear day, and yet there seemed an intangible pall over the face of things, a subtle gloom that made the day dark, and that was due to the absence of sun.  This fact did not worry the man.  He was used to the lack of sun.  It had been days since he had seen the sun, and he knew that a few more days must pass before that cheerful orb, due south, would just peep above the sky-line and dip immediately from view.