feet and hands, dangling at
the sides, were so low in the water that only when stirred by the waves
did they show, but the face rose and fell, sometimes above, and never
more than a few inches below, so that it was in view all the time.

The group silently viewed the scene. The body drifted nearer and nearer
and faintly touched the edge of the raft, as the wind carried it past.
Then it continued dipping, and gradually floated away in the gathering
gloom.

"We ought to give it burial," said Frank to Jeff, who shook his head.

"What's the use? We might tow it ashore, dig up a foot of the frozen
earth, and set a wooden cross or heap of stones to mark the grave, but
the lake is as good a burial-place as it could have."

"I wonder who he could have been," said Roswell thoughtfully. "Some
man, no doubt, who has come from his home in the States, thousands of
miles away, and started to search for gold. He may have left wife and
children behind, who will look longingly for his coming, but will never
see his face again."

"The world is full of such sad things," observed Tim McCabe, impressed,
like all, with the melancholy incident, and then he expressed the
thought that was in the mind of each: "There be five of us: will we all
see home again?"

There was no reply. Hardman had not spoken, and, as if the occasion was
too oppressive, he sauntered to another part of the raft, while the
rest gradually separated, each grave and saddened by what he had
witnessed.

It is well for us to turn aside from the hurly-burly of life and
reflect upon the solemn fact of the inevitable end that awaits us all.

But the long afternoon was drawing to a close, and the question to be
considered was whether the raft should be allowed to drift or land, or
they should continue forward, despite a certain degree of danger during
the darkness. All were eager to improve the time, and Jeff, as the head
of the expedition, said they would keep at it at least for a while
longer.

"As far as I can tell," he said, "there's no danger of running into
anything that'll wreck us, and we must use our sail while we can.
Besides," he added, after testing it, "the water is so deep that we
can't reach bottom, and there isn't much chance to help ourselves."

The wind which swept over the raft had risen almost to a gale, and
brought with it a few scurrying flakes of snow. There was a perceptible
fall in the temperature, and the chilly, penetrating air caused all t