"I have the honor to be, sir,

"Your obedient servant,
" WILLIAM MACVEIGH, Sergeant,
"In charge of detachment."

He folded the report, placed it with other treasures in the waterproof
rubber bag which always went into his pack, and returned to Pelliter's
side.

"I hate to leave you alone, Pelly," he said. "But I'll make a fast
trip of it-- four hundred and fifty miles over the ice, and I'll do it
in ten days or bust. Then ten days back, mebbe two weeks, and you'll
have the medicines and the letters. Hurrah!"

"Hurrah!" cried Pelliter.

He turned his face a little to the wall. Something rose up in
MacVeigh's throat and choked him as he gripped Pelliter's hand.

"My God, Bill, is that the sun ?" suddenly cried Pelliter.

MacVeigh wheeled toward the one window of the cabin. The sick man
tumbled from his bunk. Together they stood for a moment at the window,
staring far to the south and east, where a faint red rim of gold shot
up through the leaden sky.

"It's the sun," said MacVeigh, like one speaking a prayer.

"The first in four months," breathed Pelliter.