s tepee warm."

Blake and Harding felt strongly tempted to agree. The cold had been
extreme the last few nights, and, weary and scantily fed as they were,
they craved shelter. Still they had misgivings.

"We have wasted too much time already," Blake said with an effort; "and
there's only a few days' rations in the bag. We have got to get back
to the valley, and we ought to make another three hours' march, before
we stop."

"Yes," Harding slowly assented; "I guess that would be wiser."

Setting off at once, they wearily struggled up the hill; and it had
been dark some time when they made camp in a hollow at the foot of a
great rock. The rock kept off the wind, and the spruces which grew
close about it further sheltered them, but Blake told his companions to
throw up a snow bank while he cut wood.

"I'm afraid we're going to have an unusually bad night, and we may as
well take precautions," he said.

His forecast proved correct, for soon after they had finished supper a
cloud of snow swept past the hollow, and the spruces roared among the
rocks above. Then there was a crash and the top of a shattered tree
plunged down between the men and fell on the edge of the fire,
scattering a shower of sparks.

"Another foot would have made a difference to two of us," Harding said
coolly. "However, it's fallen where it was wanted; help me heave the
thing on."

It crackled fiercely as the flame licked about it. Sitting between the
snowbank and the fire, the men kept fairly warm, but a white haze drove
past their shelter and, eddying in now and then, covered them with
snow. In an hour the drifts were level with the top of the bank, but
this was a protection, and they were thankful that they had found such
a camping place, for death would have been the consequence of being
caught in the open. The blizzard gathered strength, but though they
heard the crash of broken trees through the roar of the wind no more
logs fell, and after a while they went to sleep, secure in the shelter
of the rock.

When day broke it was long past the usual hour, and the cloud of
driving flakes obscured even the spruces a few yards away. The hollow
at the foot of the crag was shadowy, and the snow had piled up several
feet above the bank, and lapped over at one end. Still, with wood
enough, they could keep warm; and had their supplies been larger they
would have been content to rest. As things were, however, they were
confronted with perha