s she grew older.

"Everything, daughter," he replied. "And my throat feels much better. I
think the cold air is doing it good."

"That's fine!" she laughed, happily. "Now I wonder which of these
sleighs is ours?"

"I'll tell you in a minute," said Mr. Pertell. "I want to see the
lodge-keeper. Oh, there he is! Hello, Jake Macksey!" he called to the
sturdy man, in big boots, who was stalking about among the sleds, "is
everything all right for us?"

"Everything, Mr. Pertell," was the hearty answer. "We'll have you out to
Elk Lodge in a jiffy. My wife has got a lot of stuff cooked up, for she
thought you'd be hungry."

"Indeed we are!" grumbled Mr. Sneed.

"But if dere iss stuff cooked I can safe mine pretzels!" chuckled Mr.
Switzer.

The baggage was stowed in one sled, and in the others the members of the
picture company distributed themselves.

"All right?" asked Jake Macksey, who was a veteran guide and hunter, and
in charge of Elk Lodge.

"All ready!" answered Mr. Pertell.

"Drive lively now, boys!" called the hunter. "It's getting late, and
will soon be dark, and the roads aren't any too good."

"Oh my!" groaned Mr. Sneed. "I'm sure something will happen!"

With cracks of the whips, and a jingling of sleighbells, the little
cavalcade started off. The gloom settled slowly down, but Ruth and Alice
helped dispel it by singing lively songs. Over the snow-covered road
they went, now on a comparatively level place, and again down into some
hollow where the drifts were deep. The horses pulled nobly.

They came to a narrow place in the road, where the snow was piled high
on either side. There was room for but one sled at a time.

"I hope we don't meet anyone here," said Mr. Macksey. "If they do we'll
have a hard job passing. G'lang there!" he called to his horses.

They were half-way through the snow defile, when the leading sleigh, in
which rode Ruth and Alice, swerved to one side. There was a crashing
sound, a splintering of wood, and the two forward horses went down in a
heap.

"Whoa! Whoa!" called Mr. Macksey, as he reined in the others.

"What's happened?" asked Mr. DeVere.

"Some sort of a breakdown," answered the hunter.

"Serious?" the actor wanted to know, trying to peer ahead in the gloom.

"I can't tell yet," was the answer. "Here, can someone hold the reins
while I get out?" he asked.

"I will," offered Russ, and he held the rear team. The horses who had
fallen had struggled to their fee