Page:Hendryx--Connie Morgan with the Mounted.djvu/269

Rh cabin. Making sure that the bars would slide securely into place the boy once more threw open the door, and with an old shovel, which he took from the corner, set about filling one side of the interior with snow.

At the end of a half-hour he surveyed with satisfaction the pile that slanted four feet high against the wall.

"That will give me all the water I need," he muttered, and surveyed the wide snow sweep, where three figures were hurrying toward him from the rim of the bowl while a fourth figure slanted to intersect their trail at a point not far distant from the cabin.

As Connie watched them his jaw set tight and his eyes narrowed.

"Come on, you hard guys! But before I get you down to Dawson you'll know who's hard! I'll bet when I get through with you the next time you see a cache or a poison ball you never will quit running!"

He fastened the bars, and, drawing the bench to the loophole, watched the approaching four. A hundred yards from the door they paused while one of their number, advancing a few steps, called loudly: