ere too miserable. They were roughly
bound, though their legs were left free, and then they were led away.
Callack sat in comfort on the dog sled, the animals managing to pull him
and the load of food, as the trail back to camp led down hill.

It was not far to the place where they had escaped from, for as the
captives learned later, they had wandered about considerably in their
flight. They were soon back at the camp, and this time Callack looked
carefully to the tying of the thongs.

When the captives had been securely fastened, holes were made in the
ice, and in them stakes were thrust. Then loose ice was tamped in around
to make the stakes hold. To these stakes, which soon froze in, almost
like part of the ice itself, the prisoners were fastened.

"Now," said Callack when the barbarous work was finished, "let's see how
you like that. I think you'll soon wish you'd told me the secret."

No one made him an answer. All were too intent on trying to move about
as much as the close bonds would permit to get positions where the cruel
wind and the stinging particles of snow would not be in their faces.
Poor Johnson, scarcely able to move, groaned in pain.

"Boys, can you stand it?" asked Mr. Baxter in a low voice, "or shall I
give in to him?"

"I'll stand it," answered Fred decidedly.

"So will I," added Jerry.

They were left alone. The Indians and Callack retired to the tents
where, sheltered from the fierce blasts, they ate of the food which
they had taken from the sleds of their captives, for Callack's band was
not well supplied with rations.

[Illustration: "The terrible cold was making them stupid"

_Page 187_]

Thicker and thicker came down the snow. It began to form in little
mounds over the extended feet of the staked-out prisoners. Soon it would
cover them completely. But that might be an advantage rather than
otherwise, as it would produce a warmth which might save their lives.
But would it happen in time? And would they not die in the meanwhile of
faintness, because they were very hungry?

The terrible cold was making them stupid. With a refinement of cruelty
Callack had hung a big thermometer on a stake in front of Mr. Baxter
that he might look at the little column of colored spirits and see to
what low point they fell. The glow of the Northern Lights made an
illumination sufficient to see the figures.

The night advanced. More and more intense grew the cold. The snow froze
as it fell, until the