s awakened by a dog
that crept up to him for warmth.

CHAPTER XX

A STARTLING DISCOVERY

It was getting light the next morning when the reinforced party entered
a belt of thicker timber where they first clearly realized the fury of
the storm. The trees were small and sprang from a frozen muskeg, so
that they could not be uprooted, but the gale had snapped the trunks
and laid them low in swaths. Even in the spots where some had
withstood its force the ground was strewn with split and broken
branches, and to lee of them the snow had gathered in billowy drifts.
The scene of ruin impressed the men, who were forced to make long
rounds in search of a passage for the sled.

"About as fierce a blizzard as I remember," Sergeant Lane remarked.
"We were held up three days, and thought ourselves lucky in making a
ravine with a steep bank; but the wind couldn't have been quite so
strong back north a piece. There'd have been two names less on the
roster if we'd been caught down here."

Harding thought this was probable. He had had a protecting rock at his
back, but in the valley there was no shelter from the storm that had
leveled the stoutest trees. Even the four-footed inhabitants of the
wilds could hardly have escaped. As he stumbled among the wreckage,
Harding thought about the man whose footsteps they had seen near the
Indian village. Unless he had found some secure retreat he must have
had to face the fury of the gale. Harding felt convinced that the man
was Clarke. It was curious that he should have been living alone among
the empty tepees, but Harding imagined that he was in some way
accountable for the Indians' departure, and he wondered where he was
going when he crossed the range. There was a mystery about the matter,
and if an explanation could be arrived at it would be of interest to
him and his friends. Even before Clarke had sent them into the muskeg
when he knew it was practically impassable, Harding had entertained a
deep distrust of him.

Blake called him to help in dragging the sled over an obstacle, and the
difficulties of the way afterward occupied his attention. When they
found clearer ground they made good progress, and, late in the
afternoon, seeing a rocky spur running out from the hillside, they
headed for it to look for a sheltered camping place. There was still
some daylight, but a cold wind had sprung up, blowing the loose snow
into their faces.

As they neared the spur, the d