t a gallop.

"It will take the stupor out of me," she cried.

Then the reins drooped and the fight with the numbing cold began again.

"I wonder how far along I am. I must be nearly there. I remember we lost
sight of Carey's Crossing soon after we left last September. Some swell of
ground cut us off quickly--and I've never seen a human being since then,
except Asher and Jim Shirley and Pilot," she added.

"The snow is so much heavier right here. It varies so. I've passed half a
dozen changes, but this is the deepest yet. I'm sure I can see the town
beyond this slope ahead. Why! where's the trail, anyhow?"

It was nearing mid-afternoon. Neither horse nor rider had had food nor
water, save once when Juno drank at a crossing. Virginia sat still,
conscious suddenly that she has missed the trail somewhere.

"It isn't far, I know. Could I have left it when I took that gallop?" she
asked herself.

She was wide awake now, for the reality of the situation was upon her, and
she searched madly for some sign of the trail. In that level prairie sea
there was no sign to show where the trail might lie. The gray sky was
pitiless still, and with no guiding ray of sunshine the points of the
compass failed, and the brave woman lost all sense of direction.

"I won't give up," she said at last, despairingly, "but we may as well
rest a little before we try again."

She had dropped down a decided slope and hurried to a group of low bushes
in a narrow draw. While the wind was sliding the snow endlessly back and
forth on the higher ground, the bushes were moveless. Slipping to the
ground beside them, she stamped her feet and swung her arms until the
blood began to warm her chilled body.

"It is so much warmer here. But what next? Oh, dear Father, help me, help
me!" she cried in the depth of her need.

And again the same clear whisper that had spoken to her on the headland
when she watched the September prairie fire, a voice from out of the vast
immensity of the Universe, came to her soul with its calm strength.

"The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."

How many a time in the days of winning the wilderness did the blessed
promise come to the pioneer women who braved the frontier to build the
homes of a conquering nation.

"I can't try that blind game again for awhile," Virginia said to herself.
"I'll run up a distress signal; maybe somewhere help is coming to me. I
know now how Jim felt all alone