“Now it’s your last chance, George,” said Smoke.  “Will you take out the team?”

“How much?” said Cultus George.

Astounded at himself that he should be able to do such a thing, and at the same time angered by the colossal selfishness of the Indian, Smoke gave the signal.  Nor was Cultus George any less astounded when he felt the noose tighten with a jerk and swing him off the floor.  His stolidity broke on the instant.  On his face, in quick succession, appeared surprise, dismay, and pain.

Smoke watched anxiously.  Having never been hanged himself, he felt a tyro at the business.  The body struggled convulsively, the tied hands strove to burst the bonds, and from the throat came unpleasant noises of strangulation.  Suddenly Smoke held up his hand.

“Slack away” he ordered.

Grumbling at the shortness of the punishment, the men on the rope lowered Cultus George to the floor.  His eyes were bulging, and he was tottery on his feet, swaying from side to side and still making a fight with his hands.  Smoke divined what was the matter, thrust violent fingers between the rope and the neck, and brought the noose slack with a jerk.  With a great heave of the chest, Cultus George got his first breath.

“Will you take that team out?” Smoke demanded.

Cultus George did not answer.  He was too busy breathing.

“Oh, we white men are hogs,” Smoke filled in the interval, resentful himself at the part he was compelled to play.  “We’d sell our souls for gold, and all that; but once in a while we forget about it and turn loose and do something without a thought of how much there is in it.  And when we do that, Cultus George, watch out.  What we want to know now is:  Are you going to take out that team?”

Cultus George debated with himself.  He was no coward.  Perhaps this was the extent of their bluff, and if he gave in now he was a fool.  And while he debated, Smoke suffered from secret worry lest this stubborn aborigine would persist in being hanged.

“How much?” said Cultus George.

Smoke started to raise his hand for the signal.

“Me go,” Cultus George said very quickly, before the rope could tighten.

“An’ when that rescue expedition found me,” Shorty told it in the Annie Mine, “that ornery Cultus George was the first in, beatin’ Smoke’s sled by three hours, an’ don’t you forget it, Smoke comes in second at that.  Just the same, it was about time, when I heard Cultus George a-yellin’ at his dogs from the top of the divide, for those blamed Siwashes had ate my moccasins, my mitts, the leather lacin’s, my knife-sheath, an’ some of ’em was beginnin’ to look mighty hungry at me—­me bein’ better nourished, you see.

“An’ Smoke?  He was near dead.  He hustled around a while, helpin’ to start a meal for them two hundred sufferin’ Siwashes; an’ then he fell asleep, settin’ on his haunches, thinkin’ he was feedin’ snow into a thawin’-pail.  I fixed him my bed, an’ dang me if I didn’t have to help him into it, he was that give out.  Sure I win the toothpicks.  Didn’t them dogs just naturally need the six salmon Smoke fed ’em at the noonin’?”