The Masters of the Peaks: A Story of the Great North Woods

by Joseph A. Altsheler

  CHAPTER II

  ON THE RIDGES

  Late in the afternoon Willet went to sleep and Robert and Tayogawatched, although, as the hunter had done, they depended more uponear than eye. They too heard now and then the faint report of distantshots from the hunt, and Robert's heart beat very fast, but, if theyoung Onondaga felt emotion, he did not show it. At twilight, theyate a frugal supper, and when the night had fully come they rose andwalked about a little to make their stiffened muscles elastic again.

  "The hunters have all gone back to the camp now," said Tayoga, "sinceit is not easy to pursue the game by dusk, and we need not keep soclose, like a bear in its den."

  "And the danger of our being seen is reduced to almost nothing," saidRobert.

  "It is so, Dagaeoga, but we will have another fight to make. We muststrive to keep ourselves from freezing. It turns very cold on themountains! The wind is now blowing from the north, and do you not feela keener edge to it?"

  "I do," replied Robert, sensitive of body as well as mind, and heshivered as he spoke. "It's a most unfortunate change for us. But nowthat I think of it we've got to expect it up among the high mountainstoward Canada. Shall we light another fire?"

  "We'll talk of that later with the Great Bear when he comes out of hissleep. But it fast grows colder and colder, Dagaeoga!"

  Weather was an enormous factor in the lives of the borderers.Wilderness storms and bitter cold often defeated their best plans, andshelterless men, they were in a continual struggle against them. Andhere in the far north, among the high peaks and ridges, there was muchto be feared, even with official winter yet several weeks away.

  Robert began to rub his cold hands, and, unfolding his blanket, hewrapped it about his body, drawing it well up over his neck and ears.Tayoga imitated him and Willet, who was soon awakened by the coldblast, protected himself in a similar manner.

  "What does the Great Bear think?" asked the Onondaga.

  The hunter, with his face to the wind, meditated a few moments beforereplying.

  "I was testing that current of air on my face and eyes," he said,"and, speaking the truth, Tayoga, I don't like it. The wind seemed togrow colder as I waited to answer you. Listen to the leaves fallingbefore it! Their rustle tells of a bitter night."

  "And while we freeze in it," said Robert, whose imagination wasalready in full play, "the French and Indians build as many and bigfires as they please, and cook before them the juicy game they killedtoday."

  The hunter was again very thoughtful.

  "It looks as if we would have to kindle a fire," he said, "andtomorrow we shall have to hunt bear or deer for ourselves, because wehave food enough left for only one more meal."

  "The face of Areskoui is turned from us," said Tayoga. "We have donesomething to anger him, or we have failed to do what he wished, andnow he sends upon us a hard trial to test us and purify us! A greatstorm with fierce cold comes!"

  The wind rose suddenly, and it began to make a sinister hissing amongall the passes and gorges. Robert felt something damp upon his face,and he brushed away a melting flake of snow. But another and anothertook its place and the air was soon filled with white. And the flakeswere most aggressive. Driven by the storm they whipped the cheeksand eyes of the three, and sought to insert themselves, often withsuccess, under their collars, even under the edges of the protectingblankets, and down their backs. Robert, despite himself, shiveredviolently and even the hunter was forced to walk vigorously back andforth in the effort to keep warm. It was evident that the Onondaga hadtold the truth, and that the face of Areskoui was in very fact turnedfrom them.

  Robert awaited the word, looking now and then at Willet, but thehunter hung on for a long time. The leaves fell in showers before thestorm, making a faint rustling like the last sigh of the departing,and the snow, driven with so much force, stung his face like hail whenit struck. He was anxious for a fire, and its vital heat, but he wastoo proud to speak. He would endure without complaint as much as hiscomrades, and he knew that Tayoga, like himself, would wait for theolder man to speak.

  But he could not keep, meanwhile, from thinking of the French andIndians beside their vast heaps of glowing coals, fed and warmed totheir hearts' content, while the three lay in the dark and bitter coldof the wilderness. An hour dragged by, then two, then three, but thestorm showed no sign of abating. The sinister screaming of the winddid not cease and the snow accumulated upon their bodies. At lastWillet said:

  "We must do it."

  "We have no other choice," said Tayoga. "We have waited as long as wecould to see if Areskoui would turn a favoring face upon us, but hisanger holds. It will not avail, if in our endeavor to escape thetomahawk of Tandakora, we freeze to death."

  The fire decided upon, they took all risks and went about the taskwith eagerness. Ordinary men could not have lighted it under suchcircumstances, but the three had uncommon skill upon which to draw.They took the bark from dead wood, and shaved off many splinters,building up a little heap in the lee of a cliff, which they shelteredon the windward side with their bodies. Then Willet, working a longtime with his flint and steel, set to it the sparks that grew into ablaze.

  Robert did not stop with the fire. Noticing the vast amount of deadwood lying about, as was often the case in the wilderness, he draggedup many boughs and began to build a wall on the exposed side of theflames. Willet and Tayoga approving of the idea soon helped him, andthree pairs of willing hands quickly raised the barrier of trunks andbrush to a height of at least a yard.

  "A happy idea of yours, Robert," said the hunter. "Now we achieve twoends at once. Our wall hides the glow of the fire and at the same timeprotects us in large measure from the snow and wind."

  "I have bright thoughts now and then," said Robert, whose spirits hadreturned in full tide. "You needn't believe you and Tayoga have allof 'em. I don't believe either of you would have ever thought of thisfine wooden wall. In truth, Dave, I don't know what would become ofyou and Tayoga if you didn't have me along with you most all thetime! How good the fire feels! The warmth touches my fingers and goesstealing up my arms and into my body! It reaches my face too andgoes stealing down to meet the fine heat that makes a channel of myfingers! A glorious fire, Tayoga! I tell you, a glorious fire, Dave!The finest fire that's burning anywhere in the world!"

  "The quality of a fire depends on the service it gives," said thehunter.

  "Dagaeoga has many words when he is happy," said the Onondaga. "Histongue runs on like the pleasant murmur of a brook, but he does itbecause Manitou made him that way. The world must have talkers aswell as doers, and it can be said for Lennox that he acts as well astalks."

  "Thanks, I'm glad you put in the saving clause," laughed Robert. "Butit's a mighty good thing we built our wooden wall. That wind would cutto the bone if it could get at you."

  "The wind at least will keep the warriors away," said Tayoga. "Theywill all stay close in the camp on such a night."

  "And no blame to them," murmured the hunter. "If we weren't in theIndian country I'd build our own fire five times as big. Now, Robert,suppose you go to sleep."

  "I can't, Dave. You know I slept all the morning, but I'm notsuffering from dullness. I'm imagining things. I'm imagining how muchworse off we'd be if we didn't have flint and steel. I can always findpleasure in making such contrasts."

  But he crouched down lower against the cliff, drew his blanket closerand spread both hands over the fire, which had now died down into aglowing mass of coals. He was wondering what they would do on themorrow, when their food was exhausted. They had not only the storm tofight, but possible starvation in the days to come. He foresaw thatinstead of discovering all the plans of the enemy they would have astruggle merely to live.

  "Areskoui must truly be against us, Tayoga," he said. "Who would havepredicted such a storm so early in the season?"

  "We are several thousand feet above the sea level," said Willet, "andthat will account for the violent change. I think the wind and snowwill last all tonight, and pro
bably all tomorrow."

  "Then," said Robert, "we'd better gather more wood, build our wallhigher and save ample fuel for the fire."

  The other two found the suggestion good, and all three acted uponit promptly, ranging through the forest about them in search ofbrushwood, which they brought back in great quantities. Robert's bloodbegan to tingle with the activity, and his spirits rose. Now the snow,as it drove against his face, instead of making him shiver, whippedhis blood. He was the most energetic of the three, and went thefarthest, in the hunt for fallen timber.

  One of his trips took him into the mouth of a little gorge, and, ashe bent down to seize the end of a big stick, he heard just ahead arustling that caused him with instinctive caution to straighten up andspring back, his hand, at the same time, flying to the butt of thepistol in his belt. A figure, tall and menacing, emerged from thedarkness, and he retreated two or three steps.

  It was his first thought that a warrior stood before him, but reasontold him quickly no Indian was likely to be there, and, then, throughthe thick dusk and falling snow, he saw a huge black bear, erect onhis hind legs, and looking at him with little red eyes. The animal wasso near that the lad could see his expression, and it was not angerbut surprise and inquiry. He divined at once that this particular bearhad never seen a human being before, and, having been roused from somewarm den by Robert's advance, he was asking what manner of creaturethe stranger and intruder might be.

  Robert's first impulse was one of friendliness. It did not occur tohim to shoot the bear, although the big fellow, fine and fat, wouldfurnish all the meat they needed for a long time. Instead his largeblue eyes gave back the curious gaze of the little red ones, and, fora little space, the two stood there, face to face, with no thought ofdanger or attack on the part of either.

  "If you'll let me alone I'll let you alone," said the lad.

  The bear growled, but it was a kindly, reassuring growl.

  "I didn't mean to disturb you. I was looking for wood, not for bear."

  Another growl, but of a thoroughly placid nature.

  "Go wherever you please and I'll return to the camp with this fallensapling."

  A third growl, now ingratiating.

  "It's a cold night, with fire and shelter the chief needs, and you andI wouldn't think of fighting."

  A fourth growl which clearly disclosed the note of friendship andunderstanding.

  "We're in agreement, I see. Good night, I wish you well."

  A fifth growl, which had the tone of benevolent farewell, and thebear, dropping on all fours, disappeared in the brush. Robert, whosefancy had been alive and leaping, returned to the camp rather pleasedwith himself, despite the fact that about three hundred pounds ofexcellent food had walked away undisturbed.

  "I ran upon a big bear," he said to the hunter and the Onondaga.

  "I heard no shot," said Willet.

  "No, I didn't fire. Neither my impulse nor my will told me to do so.The bear looked at me in such brotherly fashion that I could neverhave sent a bullet into him. I'd rather go hungry."

  Neither Willet nor Tayoga had any rebuke for him.

  "Doubtless the soul of a good warrior had gone into the bear andlooked out at you," said the Onondaga with perfect sincerity. "It issometimes so. It is well that you did not fire upon him or the face ofAreskoui would have remained turned from us too long."

  "That's just the way I felt about it," said Robert, who had greattolerance for Iroquois beliefs. "His eyes seemed fully human to me,and, although I had my pistol in my belt and my hand when I first sawhim flew to its butt, I made no attempt to draw it. I have no regretsbecause I let him go."

  "Nor have we," said Willet. "Now I think we can afford to rest again.We can build our wall six feet high if we want to and have wood enoughleft over to feed a fire for several days."

  The two lads, the white and the red, crouched once more in the lee ofthe cliff, while the hunter put two fresh sticks on the coals. Butlittle of the snow reached them where they lay, wrapped well in theirblankets, and all care disappeared from Robert's mind. Inured to thewilderness he ignored what would have been discomfort to others. Thetrails they had left in the snow when they hunted wood would soon becovered up by the continued fall, and for the night, at least, therewould be no danger from the warriors. He felt an immense comfort andsecurity, and by-and-by fell asleep again. Tayoga soon followed him toslumberland, and Willet once more watched alone.

  Tayoga relieved Willet about two o'clock in the morning, but they didnot awaken Robert at all in the course of the night. They knew that hewould upbraid them for not summoning him to do his share, but therewould be abundant chance for him to serve later on as a sentinel.

  The Onondaga did not arouse his comrades until long past daylight, andthen they opened their eyes to a white world, clear and cold. The snowhad ceased falling, but it lay several inches deep on the ground, andall the leaves had been stripped from the trees, on the high pointwhere they lay. The coals still glowed, and they heated over themthe last of their venison and bear meat, which they ate with keenappetite, and then considered what they must do, concluding at last todescend into the lower country and hunt game.

  "We can do nothing at present so far as the war is concerned," saidWillet. "An army must eat before it can fight, but it's likely thatthe snow and cold will stop the operations of the French and Indiansalso. While we're saving our own lives other operations will bedelayed, and later on we may find Garay going back."

  "It is best to go down the mountain and to the south," said Tayoga, inhis precise school English. "It may be that the snow has fallen onlyon the high peaks and ridges. Then we'll be sure to find game, andperhaps other food which we can procure without bullets."

  "Do you think we'd better move now?" asked Robert.

  "We must send out a scout first," said Willet.

  It was agreed that Tayoga should go, and in about two hours hereturned with grave news. The warriors were out again, hunting in thesnow, and although unconscious of it themselves they formed an almostcomplete ring about the three, a ring which they must undertake tobreak through now in full daylight, and with the snow ready to leave abroad trail of all who passed.

  "They would be sure to see our path," said Tayoga. "Even the shorttrail I made when I went forth exposes us to danger, and we must trustto luck that they will not see it. There is nothing for us to do, butto remain hidden here, until the next night comes. It is quite certainthat the face of Areskoui is still turned from us. What have we donethat is displeasing to the Sun God?"

  "I can't recall anything," said Robert.

  "Perhaps it is not what we have done but what we have failed to do,though whatever it is Areskoui has willed that we lie close anotherday."

  "And starve," said Robert ruefully.

  "And starve," repeated the Onondaga.

  The three crouched once more under the lee of the cliff, but towardnoon they built their wooden wall another foot higher, driven to thework by the threatening aspect of the sky, which turned to a somberbrown. The wind sprang up again, and it had an edge of damp.

  "Soon it will rain," said Tayoga, "and it will be a bitter cold rain.Much of the snow will melt and then freeze again, coating the earthwith ice. It will make it more difficult for us to travel and thehunting that we need so much must be delayed. Then we'll grow hungrierand hungrier."

  "Stop it, Tayoga," exclaimed Robert. "I believe you're torturing me onpurpose. I'm hungry now."

  "But that is nothing to what Dagaeoga will be tonight, after he hasgone many hours without food. Then he will think of the juicy venison,and of the tender steak of the young bear, and of the fine fish fromthe mountain streams, and he will remember how he has enjoyed them inthe past, but it will be only a memory. The fish that he craves willbe swimming in the clear waters, and the deer and the bear will be faraway, safe from his bullet."

  "I didn't know you had so much malice in your composition, Tayoga, butthere's one consolation; if I suffer you suffer also."

 
The Onondaga laughed.

  "It will give Dagaeoga a chance to test himself," he said. "We knowalready that he is brave in battle and skillful on the trail, and nowwe will see how he can sit for days and nights without anything toeat, and not complain. He will be a hero, he will draw in his beltnotch by notch, and never say a word."

  "That will do, Tayoga," interrupted the hunter. "While you play uponRobert's nerves you play upon mine also, and they tell me you've saidenough. Actually I'm beginning to feel famished."

  Tayoga laughed once more.

  "While I jest with you I jest also with myself," he said. "Now we'llsleep, since there is nothing else to do."

  He drew his blanket up to his eyes, leaned against the stony wall andslept. Robert could not imitate him. As the long afternoon, one of thelongest he had ever known, trailed its slow length away, he studiedthe forest in front of them, where the cold and mournful rain wasstill falling, a rain that had at least one advantage, as it had longsince obliterated all traces of a trail left by Tayoga on his scoutingexpedition, although search as he would he could find no other profitin it.

  Night came, the rain ceased, and, as Tayoga had predicted, the intensecold that arrived with the dark, froze it quickly, covering the earthwith a hard and polished glaze, smoother and more treacherous thanglass. It was impossible for the present to undertake flight oversuch a surface, with a foe naturally vigilant at hand, and they madethemselves as comfortable as they could, while they awaited anotherday. Now Robert began to draw in his belt, while a hunger that wasalmost too fierce to be endured assailed him. His was a strong body,demanding much nourishment, and it cried out to him for relief. Hetried to forget in sleep that he was famished, but he only dozed awhile to awaken to a hunger more poignant than ever.

  Yet he said never a word, but, as the night with its illimitable hourspassed, he grew defiant of difficulties and dangers, all of whichbecame but little things in presence of his hunger. It was his impulseto storm the Indian camp itself and seize what he wanted of thesupplies there, but his reason told him the thought was folly. Then hetried to forget about the steaks of bear and deer, and the delicatelittle fish from the mountain stream that Tayoga had mentioned, butthey would return before his eyes with so much vividness that healmost believed he saw them in reality.

  Dawn came again, and they had now been twenty-four hours without food.The pangs of hunger were assailing all three fiercely, but they didnot yet dare go forth, as the morning was dark and gloomy, with aresumption of the fierce, driving rain, mingled with hail, whichrattled now and then like bullets on their wooden wall.

  Robert shivered in his blanket, not so much from actual cold as fromthe sinister aspect of the world, and his sensitive imagination,which always pictured both good and bad in vivid colors, foresaw theenormous difficulties that would confront them. Hunger tore at him,as with the talons of a dragon, and he felt himself growing weak,although his constitution was so strong that the time for a decline invitality had not yet really come. He was all for going forth in thestorm and seeking game in the slush and cold, ignoring the French andIndian danger. But he knew the hunter and the Onondaga would not hearto it, and so he waited in silence, hot anger swelling in his heartagainst the foes who kept him there. Unable to do anything else, hefinally closed his eyes that he might shut from his view the gray andchilly world that was so hostile.

  "Is Areskoui turning his face toward us, Tayoga?" he asked after along wait.

  "No, Dagaeoga. Our unknown sin is not yet expiated. The day growsblacker, colder and wetter."

  "And I grow hungrier and hungrier. If we kill deer or bear we mustkill three of each at the same time, because I intend to eat one allby myself, and I demand that he be large and fat, too. I suppose we'llgo out of this place some time or other."

  "Yes, Dagaeoga."

  "Then we'd better make up our minds to do it before it's too late. Ifeel my nerves and tissues decaying already."

  "It's only your fancy, Dagaeoga. You can exist a week without food."

  "A week, Tayoga! I don't want to exist a week without food! Iabsolutely refuse to do so!"

  "The choice is not yours, now, O Dagaeoga. The greatest gift you canhave is patience. The warrior, Daatgadose, of the clan of the Bear, ofthe nation Onondaga, of the great League of the Hodenosaunee, evenas I am, hemmed in by enemies in the forest, and with his powder andbullets gone, lay in hiding ten days without food once passing hislips, and took no lasting hurt from it. You, O Dagaeoga, willsurely do as well, and I can give you many other examples for youremulation."

  "Stop, Tayoga. Sometimes I'm sorry you speak such precise English. Ifyou didn't you couldn't have so much sport with a bad situation."

  The Onondaga laughed deeply and with unction. He knew that Robert wasnot complaining, that he merely talked to fill in the time, and hewent on with stories of illustrious warriors and chiefs among hispeople who had literally defied hunger and thirst and who had livedincredible periods without either food or water. Willet listened insilence, but with approval. He knew that any kind of talk would cheerthem and strengthen them for the coming test which was bound to besevere.

  Feeling that no warriors would be within sight at such a time theybuilt their fire anew and hovered over the flame and the coals,drawing a sort of sustenance from the warmth. But when the day wasnearly gone and there was no change in the sodden skies Robertdetected in himself signs of weakness that he knew were not theproduct of fancy. Every inch of his healthy young body cried out forfood, and, not receiving it, began to rebel and lose vigor.

  Again he was all for going forth and risking everything, and henoticed with pleasure that the hunter began to shift about and to peerinto the forest as if some plan for action was turning in his mind.But he said nothing, resolved to leave it all to Tayoga and Willet,and by-and-by, in the dark, to which his eyes had grown accustomed, hesaw the two exchanging glances. He was able to read these looks.The hunter said: "We must try it. The time has come." The Onondagareplied: "Yes, it is not wise to wait longer, lest we grow too feeblefor a great effort." The hunter rejoined: "Then it is agreed," and theOnondaga said: "If our comrade thinks so too." Both turned their eyesto young Lennox who said aloud: "It's what I've been waiting for along time. The sooner we leave the better pleased I'll be."

  "Then," said Willet, "in an hour we'll start south, going down thetrail between the high cliffs, and we'll trust that either we'veexpiated our sin, whatever it was, or that Areskoui has forgiven us.It will be terrible traveling, but we can't wait any longer."

  They wrapped their blankets about their bodies as additional covering,and, at the time appointed, left their rude shelter. Yet when theywere away from its protection it did not seem so rude. When theirmoccasins sank in the slush and the snow and rain beat upon theirfaces, it was remembered as the finest little shelter in the world.The bodies of all three regretted it, but their wills and direnecessity sent them on.

  The hunter led, young Lennox followed and Tayoga came last, their feetmaking a slight sighing sound as they sank in the half-melted snow andice now several inches deep. Robert wore fine high moccasins of tannedmooseskin, much stronger and better than ordinary deerskin, but beforelong he felt the water entering them and chilling him to the bone.Nevertheless, keeping his resolution in mind, and, knowing that theothers were in the same plight, he made no complaint but trudgedsteadily on, three or four feet behind Willet, who chose the way thatnow led sharply downward. Once more he realized what an enormousfactor changes in temperature were in the lives of borderers and howthey could defeat supreme forethought and the greatest skill. Winterwith its snow and sleet was now the silent but none the less potentally of the French and Indians in preventing their escape.

  They toiled on two or three miles, not one of the three speaking. Thesleet and hail thickened. In spite of the blanket and the deerskintunic it made its way along his neck and then down his shoulders andchest, the chill that went downward meeting the chill that came upwardfrom his feet, now almost frozen. He could not reca
ll ever beforehaving been so miserable of both mind and body. He did not know itjust then, but the lack of nourishment made him peculiarly susceptibleto mental and physical depression. The fires of youth were not burningin his veins, and his vitality had been reduced at least one half.

  Now, that terrible hunger, although he had striven to fight it,assailed him once more, and his will weakened slowly. What were thosetales Tayoga had been telling about men going a week or ten dayswithout food? They were clearly incredible. He had been less than twodays without it, and his tortures were those of a man at the stake.

  Willet's eyes, from natural keenness and long training, were able topierce the dusk and he showed the way, steep and slippery though itwas, with infallible certainty. They were on a lower slope, where bysome freak of the weather there was snow instead of slush, when hebent down and examined the path with critical and anxious eyes. Robertand Tayoga waited in silence, until the hunter straightened up again.Then he said:

  "A war party has gone down the pass ahead of us. There were abouttwenty men in it, and it's not more than two hours beyond us. Whetherit's there to cut us off, or has moved by mere chance, I don't know,but the effect is just the same. If we keep on we'll run into it."

  "Suppose we try the ascent and get out over the ridges," said Robert.

  Willet looked up at the steep and lofty slopes on either side.

  "It's tremendously bad footing," he replied, "and will take heavy tollof our strength, but I see no other way. It would be foolish for us togo on and walk straight into the hands of our enemies. What say you,Tayoga?"

  "There is but a single choice and that a desperate one. We must trythe summits."

  They delayed no longer, and, Willet still leading, began the frightfulclimb, choosing the westward cliff which towered above them afull four hundred feet, and, like the one that faced it, almostprecipitous. Luckily many evergreens grew along the slope and usingthem as supports they toiled slowly upward. Now and then, in spite ofevery precaution, they sent down heaps of snow that rumbled as itfell into the pass. Every time one of these miniature avalanches fellRobert shivered. His fancy, so vitally alive, pictured savages in thepass, attracted by the noise, and soon to fire at his helpless figure,outlined against the slope.

  "Can't you go a little faster?" he said to Willet, who was just ahead.

  "It wouldn't be wise," replied the hunter. "We mustn't risk a fall.But I know why you want to hurry on, Robert. It's the fear of beingshot in the back as you climb. I feel it too, but it's only fancy withboth of us."

  Robert said no more, but, calling upon his will, bent his mind totheir task. Above him was the dusky sky and the summit seemed to towera mile away, but he knew that it was only sixty or seventy yards now,and he took his luxurious imagination severely in hand. At such a timehe must deal only in realities and he subjected all that he saw tomathematical calculation. Sixty or seventy yards must be sixty orseventy yards only and not a mile.

  After a time that seemed interminable Willet's figure disappeared overthe cliff, and, with a gasp, Robert followed, Tayoga coming swiftlyafter. The three were so tired, their vitality was so reduced thatthey lay down in the snow, and drew long, painful breaths. When somemeasure of strength was restored they stood up and surveyed the placewhere they stood, a bleak summit over which the wind blew sharply.Nothing grew there but low bushes, and they felt that, while they mayhave escaped the war band, their own physical case was worse insteadof better. Both cold and wind were more severe and a bitter hail beatupon them. It was obvious that Areskoui did not yet forgive, althoughit must surely be a sin of ignorance, of omission and not ofcommission, with the equal certainty that a sin of such type could notbe unforgivable for all time.

  "We seem to be on a ridge that runs for a great distance," saidTayoga. "Suppose we continue along the comb of it. At least we cannotmake ourselves any worse off than we are now."

  They toiled on, now and then falling on the slippery trail, theirvitality sinking lower and lower. Occasionally they had glimpses of avast desolate region under a somber sky, peaks and ridges and slopesover which clouds hovered, the whole seeming to resent the entry ofman and to offer to him every kind of resistance.

  Robert was now wet through and through. No part of his body hadescaped and he knew that his vitality was at such a low ebb that atleast seventy-five per cent, of it was gone. He wanted to stop, hiscold and aching limbs cried out for rest, and he craved heat at thecost of every risk, but his will was still firm, and he would not bethe first to speak. It was Willet who suggested when they came to aslight dip that they make an effort to build a fire.

  "The human body, no matter how strong it may be naturally, and howmuch it may be toughened by experience, will stand only so much," hesaid.

  They were constantly building fires in the wilderness, but the firethey built that morning was the hardest of them all to start. Theyselected, as usual, the lee of a rocky uplift, and, then by thepatient use of flint and steel, and, after many failures, theykindled a blaze that would last. But in their reduced state the laborexhausted them, and it was some time before they drew any life fromthe warmth. When the circulation had been restored somewhat they piledon more wood, taking the chance of being seen. They even went so faras to build a second fire, that they might sit between the two and drythemselves more rapidly. Then they waited in silence the coming of thedawn.