“You asked me on Death Valley Hill if the gold was worth what it cost to get it. And if we wasn’t missing life up here. I know the answer now, and I’ve come to tell you. I don’t aim to stay around while your father is away. When he comes home I’ll come back. Maybe both of us are tired missing _life_.” The last word was heavily underscored, and at the bottom of the paper were the words “_Huloimee Tilakum_.” With a wild, sobbing cry, the girl crushed the paper in her palm and thrust it into the bosom of her shirt. The next moment she was fastening on her snowshoes, and shutting Skookum in the cabin, she struck off down the creek, following the toboggan trail that was but a few hours old. “He came to me! He came to me!” over and over she repeated the words as her feet fairly flew over the snow. “He came to me--and I didn’t know him! It was his beard! He does love me. We neither of us knew it, then. We were like little children groping in the dark. He will camp at the cabin eight miles down--waiting for dad to come home. Poor old dad, he’s home, now--and happy. And I will be happy, oh, so happy--with him! We will both be happy, and together we can laugh at the long night, and the strong cold.” She paused abruptly and glanced back. “What if he should go on to Bettles? A hundred miles, and I haven’t a bite to eat nor a blanket!” She smiled, and resumed her pace. “I can overtake him. He has got to break trail for his dogs.” Rounding a sharp bend of the creek she came face to face with a dog outfit, mushing up stream. The outfit halted and two men stood staring at her. And in that instant the blood froze in her veins. The larger of the two was Jake Dalzene! And he was eyeing her with a fatuous, grinning leer. The eyes of his companion were harder--frankly appraising. CHAPTER XXVIII SUNRISE “So here you be, my pretty!” cried Dalzene. “Come down to meet me did ye?” The man’s voice was thick of utterance. He was drunk. Instantly the girl gained control of herself: “Stand out of my way! Let me pass!” The man laughed coarsely: “Haw, haw, haw! Pretty sassy, hain’t you? Well, you won’t be so sassy agin you’ve had a chance to learn my ways.” Swiftly the girl’s eyes surveyed the creek bed. The banks were high and steep. The man divined her intention: “No ye don’t! No use tryin’ to slip by us. Turn around an head back up the crick. I’ve got some business with yer pa--an’ later with you.” “What do you mean?” again the deadly fear gripped at her heart.