“Hello, Carr,” he greeted affably.  “Feeling better?  Tables sort of turned, ain’t they?”

Carr made no answer.  His white lips were set like thin bands of steel.

“I’m getting ready to leave you,” Falkner explained, as he rolled up a blanket and shoved it into his rubber pack-pouch.  “And you’re going to stay here—­until spring.  Do you get onto that?  You’ve got to stay.  I’m going to leave you marooned, so to speak.  You couldn’t travel a hundred yards out there without snowshoes, and I’m goin’ to take your snowshoes.  And I’m goin’ to take your guns, and burn your pack, your coat, mittens, cap, an’ moccasins.  Catch on?  I’m not goin’ to kill you, and I’m going to leave you enough grub to last until spring, but you won’t dare risk yourself out in the cold and snow.  If you do, you’ll freeze off your tootsies, and make your lungs sick.  Don’t you feel sort of pleasant—­you—­you—­devil!”

Six hours later Falkner stood outside the cabin.  The dogs were in their traces, and the sledge was packed.  The storm had blown itself out, and a warmer temperature had followed in the path of the blizzard.  He wore his coat now, and gently he felt of the bulging pocket, and laughed joyously as he faced the South.

“It’s goin’ to be a long hike, you little cuss,” he said softly.  “It’s goin’ to be a darned long hike.  But we’ll make it.  Yessir, we’ll make it.  And won’t they be s’prised when we fall in on ’em, six months ahead of time?”

He examined the pocket carefully, making sure that he had buttoned down the flap.

“I wouldn’t want to lose you,” he chuckled.  “Next to her, an’ the kid, I wouldn’t want to lose you!”

Then, slowly, a strange smile passed over his face, and he gazed questioningly for a moment at the pocket which he held in his hand.

“You nervy little cuss!” he grinned.  “I wonder if you’re a girl mouse, an’ if we’re goin’ to have a fam’ly on the way home!  An’—­an’—­what the dickens do you feed baby mice?”

He lowered the pocket, and with a sharp command to the waiting dogs turned his face into the South.

The end