"Quick as a flash I fired right into the pack, and then dropped into the bottom of my own sledge. The next instant we struck the rough stretch of ice, and I had all I could do to cling on until we had passed it. Then I looked back. "Judge of my surprise when I saw that, by a fortunate accident, my pursuers had been stopped. "My bullet had taken effect on one of the dogs, which had immediately tangled up the rest of the team and brought the sledge to a standstill. "The sledge behind seemed to be completely mixed up in the disaster, and the two sets of dogs were fighting furiously, while the Esquimaux were running about trying to separate them. "I was safe! Another two miles and the Henry Clay would be in sight, and, unless some accident happened to my own team, my pursuers would not be able to gain the vantage they had lost. "When I reached the ship, the moon was high and all hands had turned in long before, but they roused out, as did the Esquimaux from their huts, at my halloo. "Poor old Kalutunah was carried into the cabin, and the captain and mate worked over him a long time before they brought him to. He had been almost frozen in addition to his wound, so that he had a hard fight for life. But when he was finally on his pins again, how thankful he was to me! And the whole tribe was the same way. "One bad result of my adventure, however, was that Captain Lewis would allow no more extended trips away from the vessel, and although we never saw anymore See-ne-mee-utes, every party that went out for even a short tramp was fully armed and under the command of an officer. "Now you can't tell me anything about rapid sledding," concluded Randy. "I've had my day at it, and I must say that it was about as uncomfortable an experience as I ever had." [_This Story began in No. 43._] The PURPLE PENNANT or ALAN HEATHCOTE'S FORTUNE. A Foot-Ball Story. BY A PRINCETON GRADUATE. CHAPTER XXV. MR. MACKERLY REVIVES AND GRANT ATTEMPTS TO SEND ALAN TO COVENTRY. The sudden collapse of Mr. Mackerly, while in conversation with his son, was a great shock to the latter, who could scarcely believe that the news he had just been relating should have such an extraordinary effect upon his imperious and lofty father. Was it possible that the statements at which he had scoffed had some plausibility, and that there was a grain of hidden truth in the charge brought by his rival, Alan Heathcote? There was no mistaking the fact that something external had caused the magnate's startling indisposition, and Grant, even though he was badly scared at his father's plight, drew his own conclusions in regard to the matter. Meanwhile he stood helplessly calling until he collected presence of mind enough to go around to the other side of the table and raise his father's inanimate form to a more comfortable position.