on't
think I was quite so foolish about her as I had been about the dog,
but I was glad to see her. After the fire was started I got a shovel
and cleared the snow out of the office. Outside it was already banked
halfway up the door, and the storm was still raging.

As I turned from putting some coal on the fire I happened to see the
hotel register lying on the desk. Another foolish notion seized me,
and I took up the pen and as well as I could with my stiff fingers
headed a page "December 17th," and below registered myself, "Judson
Pitcher, Track's End, Dakota Territory." I think the excitement must
have turned my brain, because I seemed to be doing silly things all
the time.

But I managed to stop my foolishness long enough to get myself some
supper; which I guess was what I needed, because I acted more sensibly
afterward. Everything in the house was frozen, but I thawed out some
meat, and ate some bread without its being thawed, and boiled a couple
of eggs, and had a meal which tasted as good as any I ever ate, and
with enough left for Kaiser and the cat, who was named Pawsy, though I
can't imagine where such a name came from.

The office was by this time quite comfortable. I had brought a small
table in from the kitchen and eaten my supper close to the stove.
Though it was pitch-dark outside, it was not yet six o'clock, and as I
felt calmer than I had before, I sat down in front of the fire to
consider how matters stood. I think I realized what I was in for
better than before, but I no longer felt like crying. If I remember
aright, it was now that I gave the first thought to Pike and his
gang.

"Well," I said, speaking out loud, just as if there was somebody to
hear me besides a cat and a dog, "I guess Pike won't do much as long
as this storm lasts. But after that, I don't know. Maybe I can hide if
they come." I thought a minute more and then said: "No, I won't do
that--I'll fight, if I have a chance. They won't have any way of
knowing that I am here alone, and if I can see them first I'll be all
right." That is what I _said_; but I remember that I felt pretty
doubtful about it all. I think I must have been trying not to let
Kaiser know that I was afraid.

After a while I fell to thinking of home and of my mother. When I
thought of how she would worry when she didn't hear from me, it gave
me an idea of leaving Track's End and trying to make my way east to
civilization. It seemed to me that with a few days of g