ng. Then he descended
the cliffs for more wood.

During the night winter had set the white seal of his sovereignty upon
the world. The snarling wind had died in its own fierceness, giving over
to a still, calm air, through which steadily the big flakes fell. Now
they clung to bush and tree everywhere; the limbs had grown thick and
heavy, drooping like countless plumes. Fat mats of snow lay on the level
spaces, upon flat rocks, curling over and down at the edges. Where he
stood King sank ankle-deep in the fluffy stuff. As he moved along the
cliffs and down the slope toward a dead tree he stepped now and then
into drifts where the snow was gathering swiftly. As he looked up,
seeking to penetrate the skies above him and judge their import, he saw
only myriads of grey particles high up, swirling but slightly in some
softly stirring air-current, for the most part dropping, floating,
falling almost vertically. Nowhere was there a hint or hope of
cessation. The winter, a full four weeks early, had come.

In the noose of his rope he dragged up the cliff much dead wood, riven
from a fallen pine. Throughout the noise of his comings and goings the
girl slept heavily. He got a big fire blazing without waking her and set
about getting breakfast. While he waited for the coffee to boil he took
careful stock of provisions. For two people there was enough for some
twenty meals, food for about a week. Time to conserve the grease from
the frying-pan; to hoard the smallest bit of bacon rind. He even counted
his rounds of ammunition; here alone he was affluent. He had in the
neighbourhood of a hundred cartridges for the rifle. While he was
setting the gun aside he felt Gloria's eyes upon him.

During the night and now, during this inventory, he had been granted
both ample time and cause for his decision. He addressed her with prompt
frankness.

"Inside fifteen minutes we've got to be on our way out. As we go we'll
look for the horse. But, find it or not, we're going."

She lay looking up at him thoughtfully. She had rested; she resented his
coolly assumed mastery; she had not forgotten that there were other men
near by. But she merely said, by way of beginning:

"The storm is over, then?"

"No. But we are not going to wait. We have food for only six or seven
days, at the most."

She let her eyes droop to the fire so that the lids hid them from him.
It was not yet full day; it was still snowing. Gratton and the men with
him would,