in the creeping light; and the cold bit to the bone. It was
with a pang that they bade their host farewell, and followed the
half-breed, who ran down the slope from the door after his team.
Robertson was going back to sit, warm and well-fed, by his stove, but
they could not tell what hardships awaited them.

Their depression, however, vanished after a while. The snow was good
for traveling, the dogs trotted fast, and the half-breed grunted
approval of their speed as he pointed to landmarks that proved it when
they stopped at noon. After that they held on until dark, and made
camp among a few junipers in the shelter of a rock. All had gone well
the first day; Harding's leg no longer troubled him; and there was
comfort in traveling light with their packs on the sled. The journey
began to look less formidable. Gathering close round the fire, they
prepared their supper cheerfully, while the dogs fought over scraps of
frozen fish. Harding, however, had misgivings about their ability to
keep up the pace; he thought that in a day or two it would tell on the
white men.

They slept soundly, for the cold has less effect on the man who is
fresh and properly fed. Breakfast was quickly despatched, and after a
short struggle with the dogs they set out again. It was another good
day, and they traveled fast, over a rolling tableland on which the snow
smoothed out the, inequalities among the rocks. Bright sunshine
streamed down on them, the sled ran easily up the slopes and down the
hollows, and the men found no difficulty in keeping the pace. Looking
back when they nooned, Harding noticed the straightness of their
course. Picked out in delicate shades of blue against the unbroken
white surface surrounding it, the sled trail ran back with scarcely a
waver to the crest of a rise two miles away. This was not how they had
journeyed north, with the icy wind in their faces, laboriously
struggling round broken ridges and through tangled woods. Harding was
a sanguine man, but experience warned him to prepare for much less
favorable conditions. It was not often the wilderness showed a smiling
face.

Still, the fine weather held, and they were deep in the timber when
they parted from their guide on a frozen stream which he must follow
while they pushed south across a rugged country. He was not a
companionable person, and he spoke only a few words of barbarous
French, but they were sorry to see the last of him when he left them