ions that night
whether they would not be frost-bitten before morning. The storm
continued all the next day, and it was impossible to proceed. The dogs
were buried from sight in big snowdrifts, and Holfax had one hand
slightly frozen in digging them out to give them a feed of fish.

But troubles cannot last so very long at a time, and on the morning of
the third day the sun came out once more.

"Forward!" cried Mr. Baxter. "We are nearing the place, Fred. In a
couple of days we ought to be able to tell whether we are on a
wild-goose chase or not."

They crossed the big plain by the next night, and camped at the foot of
the mountain range where the gold was supposed to be buried. Mr. Baxter
consulted the map, and thought they had come very close to the trail
down which Stults had made his way to the settlement, where he had
related his strange story.

By daylight Mr. Baxter's views were confirmed by Holfax, who closely
examined the map. There was to be seen a tracing of a vast ravine, near
which the party had made camp, and this ravine was one of the landmarks
by which the place was known. Several expeditions, seeking the gold, had
gotten thus far, but when they penetrated the mountains they lost all
traces. Either the map was wrong, or they did not properly follow the
directions. Would these fortune hunters have any better luck?

Breakfast was hurriedly eaten, the dogs harnessed, and a start made.
Travel had to be very slow now, and it was necessary for the adventurers
to walk beside the sleds, as the dogs could not pull the passengers and
the heavy loads up the steep, snow-covered mountain.

They reached a shoulder of the incline, and stopped to rest. Here Mr.
Baxter consulted the map again.

"I think we had better bear off more to the left," he said. "It looks as
if there was a stream there, but it's frozen over."

Holfax agreed with him. It was now quite certain they were at least on
part of the very ground mapped out by Stults. But whether they were near
the hidden treasure was another question.

They followed the course of the stream as nearly as they could with the
sleds, and, after a toilsome climb found themselves on a sort of level
place.

"Doesn't look as though we were going to find a waterfall around here,"
remarked Mr. Baxter.

"It certainly does not," added Jerry.

Fred felt his heart sinking. They had come far enough, according to the
map, to be at the fall, but there was no sign of It. Was