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But it was Inspector Kedsty, coest and wildest division in all the Northland, that roused in Kent an unusual emotion, even as he waited for that explosion just over his heart which the surgeon had told hiht occur at any moment On his death-bed his mind still worked analytically And Kedsty, since the moment he had entered the room, had puzzled Kent The commander of N Division was an unusual ray hair, cold, alleam of either htly disturbed It took such ato law, for N Division covered an area of six hundred and twenty thousand squaremore than two thousand miles north of the 70th parallel of latitude, with its farthest lirees within the Arctic Circle To police this areathe law in a country fourteen times the size of the state of Ohio And Kedsty was the man who had performed this duty as only one otherit

Yet Kedsty, of the five about Kent, was ray A number of times Kent had detected a broken note in his voice He had seen his hands grip at the arms of the chair he sat in until the cords stood out on them as if about to burst He had never seen Kedsty sweat until now

Twice the Inspector had wiped his forehead with a handkerchief He was no longer Minisak--"The Rock"--a naiven to him by the Crees The armor that no shaft had ever penetrated seemed to have dropped from him He had ceased to be Kedsty, the most dreaded inquisitor in the service He was nervous, and Kent could see that he was fighting to repossess himself

"Of course you knohat this means to the Service," he said in a hard, low voice "It race," nodded Kent "I know It ht escutcheon of N Division But it can't be helped I killed John Barkley The ed by the neck until he is dead, is innocent I understand It won't be nice for the Service to let it be known that a sergeant in His Majesty's Royal Mounted is an ordinary murderer, but--"