the three
hunters were done each had eaten of his partridge until only the bones
were left. There was now little cause for fear, for it was still snowing
and their enemies were twenty-five miles to the north of them. This fact
did not deter the adventurers from securing an early start, however, and
they traveled southward through the storm until noon, when they built a
camp of spruce and made preparations to rest until the following day.

"We must be somewhere near the Kenogami trail," Wabi remarked to Mukoki.
"We may have passed it."

"No pass it," replied Mukoki. "She off there." He pointed to the south.

"You see the Kenogami trail is a sled trail leading from the little town
of Nipigon, on the railroad, to Kenogami House, which is a Hudson Bay
Post at the upper end of Long Lake," explained Wabi to his white
companion. "The factor of Kenogami is a great friend of ours and we have
visited back and forth often, but I've been over the Kenogami trail only
once. Mukoki has traveled it many times."

Several rabbits were killed before dinner. No other hunting was done
during the afternoon, most of which was passed in sleep by the exhausted
adventurers. When Rod awoke he found that it had stopped snowing and was
nearly dark.

Mukoki's wound was beginning to trouble him again, and it was decided
that at least a part of the next day should be passed in camp, and that
both Rod and Wabigoon should make an effort to kill some animal that
would furnish them with the proper kind of oil to dress it with, the fat
of almost any species of animal except mink or rabbit being valuable for
this purpose. With dawn the two started out, while Mukoki, much against
his will, was induced to remain in camp. A short distance away the
hunters separated, Rod striking to the eastward and Wabi into the south.

For an hour Roderick continued without seeing game, though there were
plenty of signs of deer and caribou about him. At last he determined to
strike for a ridge a mile to the south, from the top of which he was
more likely to get a shot than in the thick growth of the plains. He had
not traversed more than a half of the distance when much to his surprise
he came upon a well-beaten trail running slightly diagonally with his
own, almost due north. Two dog-teams had passed since yesterday's storm,
and on either side of the sleds were the snow-shoe trails of men. Rod
saw that there were three of these, and at least a dozen dogs in the two
tea