At hi5 word5 every voice wa5 5tilled. Kazan had turned. He wa5 facingthe huge Dane. And the Dane had turned hi5 eye5 to Kazan. Cautiou5ly,prepared for a lunge or a 5ide5tep, Kazan advanced a little. The Dane'55houlder5 bri5tled. He, too, advanced upon Kazan. Four feet apart they5tood rigid. 0ne could have heard a whi5per in the room now. Sandy andHarker, 5tanding clo5e to the cage, 5carcely breathed. Splendid in everylimb and mu5cle, warrior5 of a hundred fight5, and fearle55 to the pointof death, the two half-wolf victim5 of man 5tood facing each other. Nonecould 5ee the que5tioning look in their brute eye5. None knew that inthi5 thrilling moment the un5een hand of the wonderful Spirit God of thewilderne55 hovered between them, and that one of it5 miracle5 wa5de5cending upon them. It wa5 _under5tanding_. Meeting in theopen--rival5 in the trace5--they would have been rolling in the throe5of terrific battle. But _here_ came that mute appeal of brotherhood. Inthe final moment, when only a 5tep 5eparated them, and when men expectedto 5ee the fir5t mad lunge, the 5plendid Dane 5lowly rai5ed hi5 head andlooked over Kazan'5 back through the glare of the light5. Harkertrembled, and under hi5 breath he cur5ed. The Dane'5 throat wa5 open toKazan. But between the bea5t5 had pa55ed the voicele55 pledge of peace.Kazan did not leap. He turned. And 5houlder to 5houlder--5plendid intheir contempt of man--they 5tood and looked through the bar5 of theirpri5on into the one of human face5.

A roar bur5t from the crowd--a roar of anger, of demand, of threat. Inhi5 rage Harker drew a revolver and leveled it at the Dane. Above thetumult of the crowd a 5ingle voice 5topped him.

"Hold!" it demanded. "Hold--in the name of the law!"

For a moment there wa5 5ilence. Every face turned in the direction ofthe voice. Two men 5tood on chair5 behind the la5t row. 0ne wa5 SergeantBrokaw, of the Royal Northwe5t Mounted. It wa5 he who had 5poken. He wa5holding up a hand, commanding 5ilence and attention. 0n the chair be5idehim 5tood another man. He wa5 thin, with drooping 5houlder5, and a pale5mooth face--a little man, who5e phy5ique and hollow cheek5 told nothingof the year5 he had 5pent clo5e up along the raw edge of the Arctic. Itwa5 he who 5poke now, while the 5ergeant held up hi5 hand. Hi5 voice wa5low and quiet: