g of Alec's train.

After Alec and I had travelled on for several hours, no sign of any land
appearing, we began to think that the fickle blizzard was playing us one
of its tricks, and that we had wandered far out into the lake. We
stopped our dogs out there in the blinding, bewildering storm.

"Alec!" I shouted, "I am afraid we are lost."

"Yes, Missionary," he replied, "we are surely lost."

We talked about our position, and both had to confess that we did not
really know where we were or which way we ought to go.

The result of our deliberation was that we could do no better than trust
in the good Providence above us, and in our dogs before us.

As it was now after midday, and the vigorous exercise of the last few
hours had made us very hungry, we opened our provision bag, and, taking
out some frozen food, made a fairly good attempt to satisfy the keen
demands of appetite. We missed very much the good cup of hot black tea
we should have had if we had been fortunate enough to reach the shore,
and find some wood with which to make a fire.

After our hasty meal we held a short consultation, in which the fact
became more and more evident to us, that our position was a very
perilous one, as we were becoming blinded by the driving particles of
fine snow that stung our eyeballs and added much to our bewilderment.
We found that we did not know east from west, or north from south, and
would have to leave the dogs to decide on their own course, and let them
go in any direction they pleased.

I had a good deal of confidence in my dogs, as I had proved their
sagacity. To Jack, the noblest of them all, I looked to lead us out of
our difficulty; and he did not disappoint our expectations. I suppose I
acted and talked to my dog in a way that some folks would have
considered very foolish. When travelling regularly, the dogs are only
fed once a day, and that when the day's work is done. However, it was
different that day, as in the blinding gale Alec and I tried to eat our
dinner. As Jack and the others crowded around us, they were not
neglected, and with them we shared the food we had, as there was a great
uncertainty whether another meal would ever be required by any one of
us.

As usual in such emergencies, Jack had come up close to me, and so,
while he and Alec and I, and the rest of us, men and dogs, were eating
our dinners, I had a talk with him.

"Jack, my noble fellow," I said, "do you know that we are lost