Triple Spies

e and begun his dangerous journey when things of a

skins, when three rough-looking Chukches entered and, witho

owded with natives, mostly men. She was led to the center of the floor,

. She soon found it. In the throng, she recognized five of the reindeer Chukches

h, when their reindeer had been sent back by paid messengers some days be

ber. She did not doubt for a moment that her sentence would be death. Her only question was, could there be a way of escape? The wall was lined with dusky forms this time. The entrance was closely guarded. Only one possibi

s story. At intervals in his speech two men stepped forward for examination. The jaw of one of them was very stiff and three of his teeth were gone. As to the other,

the reindeer tribe. The last speech was made by th

urned to the Jap girl an

; they say all; you

-die," she re

preted, brought forth m

all," the boy went on, "how

"But first I do two thing. I sing

in a chorus when her wor

The keen-witted Japanese girl had learned this by watching their native dancing. She had once vis

slippers light as silk. Then, standing on tip toe with arms outspread, like a bird about to fly, she bent her supple

was the Chukche who learned some new chant, introduced some unfamiliar dance.

t began to move, slowly at first, then rapidly and yet more rapidly. Now she b

ion grew slower and slower, until at last s

shouted, in their excitement, forge

c was the dance and with it a chant as weird as the song of the north wind. "Woo-woo-woo." It grew in volume. The motion quickened. Her feet touched the floor

spell of the dance, watched and listened, they saw the purple pillar rise suddenly toward the c

bark of a dog outside broke the spell. With a mad shout: "Pee-le-uk-tuk Pee-le-uk-tuk!" (Gone

ce, thirty yards square and eight feet thick, glided upon another of the same tremendous proportions to rear into the air and crumble down, a ponderous avalanche of ice cakes and snow.

ade his way across this danger zone, and out upon the great floe, which though still dr

in a position to know, approximately, how far he might go due east and how much he must veer to the south to counteract the drift of the ice. He soon reckoned that he would make three miles an hour over the uneven surface of the flo

not look up until the rocky cliffs of Big Dio

ews of the Russian and Hanada. He located the village at last on a southern slope. This village, as

rest of the hill, he came upon a strange picture. A young native woman tastily dressed was standing before her house, puffing a turkish cigaret. She was a h

cheerfully and answered his questions frankly. Yes, his two friends had been here. They had gone, perhaps; she did not know. Yes, he might cross to Cape Prince o

she leaned back among the deer skins and spoke. "The men of

were hunting,"

she exclaimed.

Many times he had heard of this vicious liquor which the Eskimos and Ch

lace during the winter, of the deaths that had resulted from it

now. She wished it destroyed. This was the last brew, for no more molasses and flour remained in the village. This las

rs. How could he help this girl, and save himself from harm? What could he do anywa

ree puffs. No, Johnny did not smoke. He was merely experimenting. He wanted to see if it would make h

take a

ng to her feet she darted down the row of igloos. Pausing for a dash into an igloo, she emerged a moment later bearing unde

roared the whole gang. Like a pack of bloodthirsty hounds, they strove each one to keep fi

, too, were noted for their speed. Could she make it? There was a full mile of level, sandy beach and quite as leve

se gasps of the foremost runner; now imagining that she felt his hot breath on her cheek she red

from it to the next, then to the right, straight ahead, again to the right, then to the left. But ev

rom the shouting mob, that by this time was

. She was safe. Compared to this tangled wilderness

amine her collection of clothing. The examination revealed one fawn skin parka, one under suit of eider duck skin, one pair of seal skin trousers, two pairs of

y was that the whole outfit had formerly belonged to a boy of fourteen. The Jap

e ice and laughed. In this rig, with her hair closely plaited to her head,

alone in the world without food or shelter. She da

lastered up the cracks between the cakes with snow until only one opening remained. Then, dragging her deer skin after her, she crept inside. She

now on the drifting ice of the ocean, and was moving