"All this time--which, indeed, was very brief--Long and I were struggling forward. When we got out of that fissured ice and reached the place of the tragedy, the surroundings were as still as death. There lay our companion stretched out on the blood-soaked ice, a gurgle and wheezing coming from his torn throat with his every gasp for breath. "I knelt down beside him, while Long, poor fellow, stood staring about into the fog, his revolver in his hand. A single glance showed that there was no hope, that it was only a matter of moments. "'Go!' gasped the dying man. 'It was Satan, the Fiend himself. And an angel. And the angel, she said: "'"_Drome!_" "'Yes, I heard her say it. She said: "'"_Drome!_"' "There was a shudder, and White was dead. And the fog drifted down denser than ever, and the stillness there was as the stillness of the grave." Chapter 6 AGAIN! "What was that? The angel's voice again, seeming to issue from the very heart of that mass of rocks. A loud cry and a succession of sharp cries--cries that, I thought, ended in a sobbing sound. Then silence. But no. What was that, that rustling, that flapping in the air? "Long and I looked wildly--overhead, and then I knew a fear that sent an icy shudder into my heart. "I cried out--probably it was a scream that I gave--and sprang backward. My soles were well calked, but this could not save me, and down I went flat on my back. The revolver was knocked from my hand and went sliding along the ice for many feet. I sprang up. At this instant the thing came driving down at Long. "He fired, but he must have missed. The thing struck him in the throat and chest and drove him to the ice. I sprang for my weapon. Long screamed, screamed as White had done, and fought with the fury of a fiend. I got the revolver and started back. The thing had its teeth buried in Long's throat. So fierce was the struggle that I could not fire for fear lest I should hit my companion. As I came up, the monster loosened its hold and sprang high into the air, flapping its bat wings, then it came diving straight at me. "I fired, but the bullet must have gone wild. Again, and it screamed and went struggling upward. I emptied my revolver, but I fear that I missed with every shot, except that second one. A few seconds, and that winged monster had disappeared. "I turned to Long. I have seen some horrible sights in my time but never anything so horrible as what I saw now. For there was Long, my companion, my friend--there he was raised up on his hands, his arms rigid as steel, and the blood pouring from his throat. And I--I could only weep and watch him as he bled to death. But it did not last long. In Heaven's mercy, the horror was ended soon.