Seaforth retained no very clear impression of the remainder of that
day's journey, but it was late in the afternoon when the walls of rock
fell back a little on either hand, and it seemed to him that they lay
motionless in the bottom of a great pit while the hills slowly rolled
away behind them. Here and there a strip of shingle now divided rock
from river, and when presently Okanagan called out, Seaforth felt by
the change of motion that he was backing his paddle. Looking forward
he saw the cause of it, for there were boulders in the channel, and a
great fir lay jammed across them. They were almost upon it when the
bows reached the shingle.

Okanagan helped him to carry Alton ashore, and then stood still looking
at the fir, which was of a girth seldom seen in any other country.

"She's lying right across, and we've got to chop our way through," he
said. "You'll fix the tent and make supper while I take first turn."

He came back dripping presently, and Seaforth was waist-deep in icy
water when he reached the tree. The shingle slipped beneath him, the
stream frothed about his limbs, and he felt very puny and helpless with
that great log before him. His hands were split and opened by the
frost, and the wounds bled at every stroke, but while the red glare of
the fire Okanagan was feeding with washed-up branches flickered about
him he panted and smote, until the power went from him, and his comrade
took his place.

It was apparently a task for demigods, but it is no unusual thing for
the men who come to grips with nature unsubdued in the frozen North to
attempt, and accomplish, more than flesh and blood seem capable of, and
all night long they fought their grim battle, hewing until sight and
breathing failed them, and then staggering back to lie dripping and
gasping by the fire. Arms grew powerless, eyes were dim, the rents in
their wet hands gaped, and there was blood upon their deerskins; but
little by little the notch widened, until at last the steel splashed in
the water that deflected it, and Seaforth fancied they were beaten.
Still, there was no relaxing of effort, and as the stars were paling in
the rift high overhead he heard a sound that was not the monotone of
the river. Another man heard it, too, for Okanagan came floundering
towards him through a tumult of foam and wrested the axe from his hand.
For five minutes he smote fiercely, and then raised a hoarse,
half-articulate cry of triumph.

"She's go