“Oh, I’ll promise you that.”
“It was a startler. I was dog tired.”
“Eh?”
“I was dog tired, and dropping off in the warmth of the fire into a golden dream of being where the nuggets were piled up all around me; and I was just going to pick up one, when a great snake darted at me and coiled itself round my throat. Then I was awake, to find it was a real devil snake in the shape of that red-bearded ruffian.”
“That was the one the others called Beardy. But don’t you talk so much: your voice is growing worse.”
“Can’t help it, old fellow. I must talk. I’m so excited. Feel the cold?”
“Oh, no. I’m quite warm with the glow which comes up through the sheet. A good idea, that was, of bringing it on your sledge.”
“Yes, but it’s heavy. I say, though, what an experience this is, here in the pitchy darkness. Ah! Look out!”
The pistols clicked again, for from somewhere close at hand there was a faint rustling sound, followed by a heavy thud, as if some one had stumbled and fallen in the snow.
The pair listened breathlessly in the black darkness, straining their eyes in the direction from whence the sound had come; but all was perfectly still.