"What happened?" Graham asked, regreuing such a stupid question the

instant he uttered it.

"We hit a gash furrowed in the ice by the aircraft," Hoskins managed

between groans.  "Jesus, I think I've been castrated."

"Let me have a look." Graham pried away the hands and unzipped the front

of Hoskins's jumpsuit.  He took a flashlight from a pocket and pushed

the switch.  He could not suppress a smile.  "Your wife will need

another excuse to dump you. There's no sign of blood.  Your sex life is

secure."

"Where's Lily . . . and Gronquist?" Hoskins asked haltingly.

"About two hundred meters back.  We've got to make our way around the

ice opening and check out their situation."

Hoskins rose painfully to his feet and hobbled to the edge of the ice

break.  Amazingly, the snowmobile's headlamp was still burning, its dim

glow playing on the bottom of the flord while backlighting the bubbles

that traveled up six meters to the surface.  Graham walked over and

peered down.  Then they looked at each other.

"As lifesavers," said Hoskins dejectedly, "we'd better stick with

archaeology-"

"Quiet!" Graham snapped suddenly.  He cupped his mittens to his ears and

turned from side to side like a radar dish.  Then he stopped and pointed

excitedly at flashing lights in the distance.  "Hot damn!" he shouted.

"There's a helicopter coming up the fjord."

Lily floated in and out of reality.

She could not understand why it became increasingly difficult for her to

think straight.  She lifted her head and looked around for Gronquist. He

lay unmoving several meters away. She shouted, desperately trying to get

a response, but he lay as though dead.  She gave up and gradually

entered a halfdream world as her legs lost all sensation of feeling.

Only when she began to shiver did Lily realize she was in a mild state

of shock.

She was certain Graham and Hoskins would return any moment, but the

moments soon grew into painful minutes, and they did not show.  She felt

very tired and was about to gratefully slip away into sleep when she

heard a strange thumping sound approaching from overhead.  Then a

dazzling light cut the dark sky and blinded her eyes.  Loose snow was

kicked up by a sudden windstorm and swept around her.  The thumping

sound died in intensity and a vague figure, encircled by the light, came

toward her.

The figure became a man in a heavy fur parka who immediately summed up

the situation, took a strong - grip on the snowmobile and heaved it off

her legs to an upright position.

He walked around her until the light illuminated his face. Lily's eyes

weren't focusing as they should but they stared into a pair of sparkling

green eyes that took her breath away. They seemed to reflect hardness,

gentleness and sincere concern in one glinting montage.  They narrowed a

fraction when he saw that she was a woman.  She wondered dizzily where

he came from.