The little devils of adventure were wide-awake in her, and, smiling at
Uppy, she told him to hold up the end of his driving whip. He obeyed. The
revolver flashed, and a muffled yell came from him as he felt the shock
of the bullet as it struck fairly against the butt of his whip. In the
same instant there came a snarling deep-throated growl from Wapi. From
the sledge Peter gave a cry of warning. Uppy shrank back, and Dolores
cried out sharply and put herself swiftly between Wapi and the Eskimo.
The huge dog, ready to spring, slunk back to the end of the sledge at the
command of her voice. She patted his big head before she got on the
sledge behind Peter.

There was no indecision in the manner of Uppy'S going now. He struck out
swift and straight for the pale constellation of stars that hung over
Fort Confidence. It was splendid traveling. The surface of the arctic
plain was frozen solid. What little wind there was came from behind them,
and the dogs were big and fresh. Uppy ran briskly, snapping the lash of
his whip and la-looing to the dogs in the manner of the Eskimo driver.
Dolores did not wait for Peter's demand for a further explanation of
their running away and her remarkable words to Blake. She told him. She
omitted, for the sake of Peter's peace of mind, the physical insults she
had suffered at Captain Rydal's hands. She did not tell him that Rydal
had forced her into his arms a few hours before and kissed her. What she
did reveal made Peter's arms and shoulders grow tense and he groaned in
his helplessness.

"If you'd only told me!" he protested. Dolores laughed triumphantly, with
her arm about his shoulder. "I knew my dear old Peter too well for that,"
she exulted. "If I had told you, what a pretty mess we'd be in now,
Peter! You would have insisted on calling Captain Rydal into our cabin
and shooting him from the bed--and then where would we have been? Don't