ted sufficiently they were cut away. Contrary
to his expectations, he was not severely frozen, a white patch, the size
of his hand, appearing upon each limb above the knee. With these they
did the best they could, and dry clothing from the sleds was put on.

Their supper that night was a feast of rejoicing. They were now on the
home trail, and would soon be among friends. One more day of travel and
their long, hazardous, and eventful trip of two hundred miles over an
Arctic waste would be successfully accomplished. As they rolled
themselves in their furs at midnight for a few hours of needed rest and
sleep, they could almost fancy themselves at home again and happy. The
dogs huddled in the snow outside, now and then barking in their usual
way, but the tired men in the igloo did not hear them, for their sleep
was oblivion, after the strain of the last two weeks.

Next morning, after traveling for several hours, a halt was made, and a
lunch was taken in an Eskimo camp; but the captain, by this time, was
suffering from exposure and frosted limbs, the trail was bad, and he
concluded to hurry on ahead of the teams. The way was familiar, and only
one low mountain, called the Portage, was to be crossed. It was early in
the day, and his teams would follow immediately; so on his snowshoes the
captain hastened toward home.

God help the man who travels alone in the Arctic in winter! Little
matters it if the sun shines brightly at starting, and the sky appears
clear as a summer pool. In one short hour the aspect of all may be
changed, heavens overcast, snow flying, and wind rapidly driving. Under
the gathering darkness and whirling snowflakes the narrow trail is soon
obscured, or entirely obliterated, the icy wind congeals the traveler's
breath and courage simultaneously, he becomes confused and goes round
and round in a circle, until, benumbed by the frost, he sinks down to
die. This was what now happened to the captain.

Another storm was upon him when he reached the hill portage, and as he
expected his natives momentarily, and beyond this point the trail was
good, so that he could ride behind the dogs, he waited until they should
come up to him. Hour after hour he waited. Night came on, and the
blizzard increased in severity. Hungry, cold and already frost-bitten,
he must spend the night on the mountain alone. Still he listened for the
bells on the malemutes, and the calls of his Eskimo drivers.

They did not come. Nothing