Part 1 (2/2)

”Swell kid, isn't she?”

”Yes” Nellon forced out the ansith difficulty

”Well, keep your eyes peeled for Tower Point up there As soon as we've got old Ryska's junk, we'll all be heading for ho Ti Tiain Nellon had accompanied him on this final little trip tothe lower end of a long ravine Here, the invisible trail which they followed rose steeply and entered a narrow cleft between two huge slabs of ice Then it dipped around the base of a great pinnacle, which thrust like an undaunted finger into the rage of the storm This was the unique landmark which the expedition members had christened Tower Point

Tower Point served as a great, white warning signal For the trail skirting it gave way abruptly from powdery snow to ice of mirror slickness and slanted down sharply to a frozen lake which, unsheltered from the terrible wind, was polished constantly One end of the lake had once been a falls, for here it ended, dropping down as sheerly as a precipice for hundreds of feet

The way around Tower Point was one of the chief dangers, for there was no telling where the snow ended and the ice began A sudden slip meant a swift slide down and onto the frozen surface of the lake There, where the wind swept in all its unbroken force, one would be blown helplessly over the icy edge of the falls and dashed to death on the jagged ice teeth far below dick Fulsoist, had already lost his life that way

And that was the way Nellon had planned Big Tim Austin would die Tower Point would edy Just the merest of shoves on that deadly borderline between ice and snow, and Big Ti down to the lake and over the falls

It was as siainst hiht of suspicion ever enter theTim had always been pals in the truest, deepest sense of the word

No, he had nothing to fear The only reckoning would be with his conscience, but he did not allow that to trouble him now, for all he wanted to think of was Laura Laura would be his He knew that with a gri up the difficult rise which led to Tower Point

Nellon slipped gradually behind, until he walked in Austin's rear His eyes settled and fixed to the metal back of the other's suit

Very soon, now, it would be over And then he would be on his way back ho Laura

Laura had silky chestnut hair that glinted with deep, red lights and fell in thick curls to her shoulders Her eyes were very brown and level and filled with dancing hter Her nose was short and pert, and he remembered the tiny mole which lay like a speck of soot just near the left nostril Her lips were a little too wide, but they were firm and full and could quirk up in a s Her body was s of its curves

But it was her sh hihts it was all for him, he knew that its actual ware and happy and tousled that he looked like an overgrown boy

It was together that they had ether that they had dated her But as the three-sided friendshi+p deepened, the inevitable change had occurred

Strangely enough, it had been Nellon hi he had had Laura with him alone for the first time The spell of her charm had been concentrated upon him alone, and he had lost his head to such an extent that he proposed

Laura had said no, and things had never been the sa Tih to realize the change Nellon had, in fact, concealed his pain and desire so effectively that Big Tim had never awakened to the truth

Nellon re Even now the tones of her voice rang in his ears, gentle and sad

”I'm sorry, Brad,” she had said ”Please try to understand I really do like you--an awful lot You're like a rock, solid and strong, so--so terribly lovable I can't help it Really, Brad, if it wasn't for Tim, I'd never hesitate to marry you”

For two and a half years her words had drummed in his mind ”If it wasn't for Tihts of murder which had crept insidiously into his brain But they persisted, grew stronger, and before long he had beenactual plans Several times the cold hand of death had reached for Tim Austin, but each ti had remained undone

But now theto return ho Tim reached Earth alive the Laura he re Tim was to die, it would have to be done before the shi+p left, for once sealed within its confines, the risks would be too overwhelmund Ryska who had presented Nellon hat he had realized was his final and only chance Old Ryska had left several pieces of valuable scientific equip in a small hut which he had set up for some experiments He had remembered the, and Big Tim Austin had volunteered Nellon, because of the purpose which