ooked for that I rubbed my eyes to make
sure I was awake.

"'Well, Kid, this settles our trip to Forty-Mile for some time,'
admitted Hal forlornly.

"'What do you mean, Hal?' I asked.

"'If we don't make camp quick, we'll be caught in the cold and frozen.
If I was alone, I'd try to make some Esquimo hut or die, but havin' you
I can't take a chance.' Hal's manner of speech had improved a great
deal during his intercourse with cultured men, and I took note of it as
he spoke--such queer things will impress one when a sudden calamity
presents itself.

"That morning Hal set me to cutting down some small trees. He said he
would take the sledge and the dogs and try to find the trail. I begged
him not to leave me alone, and he promised that this would be the last
effort if he was unsuccessful.

"I felt the terrible fear of being alone in this wilderness all winter,
but I kept busy chopping down trees. All day long I worked and prayed,
and before dark settled down I rejoiced to see Hal coming back. I could
tell in a moment that he had not found any trail, so I said nothing.

"That night Hal saw all the signs of winter breaking upon us, and he
worked fast and furious to make camp so that we might survive the cold
months.

"In his search the day before, he had found a stream whose banks were
well covered with sheltering pines. Here he proposed to build a hut.
While, with the help of the dogs, he hauled the small logs I had cut to
the stream, I was ordered to fish and hunt for all the supplies I could
gather before the waters froze solid.

"I went to work with a forlorn hope of ever living to see another year,
but the fish were plentiful, and the task of preparing them for winter
use kept me from thinking too much.

"Hal set traps for animals, and this game we skinned; the meat we dried
and the pelts we hoped to use in the winter. The fats I dried out and
kept in a skin pouch Hal made. Some of the game could not be eaten, so
we used that for bait.

"Hal built a rude log hut about eight feet wide, with a smoke hole at
the top. The wide chinks were plastered full of clay from the
river-bank. A door was made of split logs and fastened together with
rope and strips of skin. We had brought no nails or screws, and had to
use whatever came to hand. The hinges of the door were made of tough
strips of hide and fastened to the logs with some nails Hal took out of
the sledge.

"A rude fire-bowl was made in the center of the hut