haven't got any pan."

"No, Injuns don't always have pans like white people," said Alex,
laughing, "but I'll show you. I'll use the flour-sack for a pan--just
pour the water right in on the flour and mix it up in the sack. All
outdoor men know that trick. An Injun would take a stick and roll
around in that white dough and roast that dough ball before the fire
along with his meat," he said, "but I think by taking a slab of bark
we can cook our bannock somehow, a little bit, at least, as though we
had a pan to lean up before the fire."

The boys found new proof of the old saying that hunger is the best
sauce. For though their meal was really very frugal, they enjoyed it
heartily, and having had a cup of tea, they forgot all about their
fatigue.

The shadows were coming down across the near-by ridges when at length
they turned to Alex inquiringly.

"We want to know where we're going to make our beds."

"Well, this big spruce-tree is a good enough tent for me--the lower
branches spread out almost like an umbrella. We won't keep much fire,
but if I get cold in the night, not having any blankets, I'll just
make a little fire. You know, I don't need to sleep as warmly as you
do."

"Well," said John, "you ought to get under part of our blanket."

"Then we'd all be cold. Keep some of the blanket under you, for that's
where the cold comes from, not from above. I may after a while push
the ashes back from our fireplace and lie down on the ground where it
has been made warm by the fire. Injuns sometimes do that when they
can't do any better. Mostly, however, we depend on keeping up a fire
if it is very cold and we have no robe or blanket."

High up in the hills where they were it grew very cold at night, and
the boys, shivering in their scanty covering, woke up more than once.
Sometimes they would see Alex lying quite asleep, and again he would
be sitting up smoking his pipe, leaning against the trunk of the tree.
In some way, however, the night wore through, although they were glad
when at length the sun came up and they could all stretch their
cramped and stiffened limbs.

"My eyes have got sticks in them," said John, rubbing at his face.

"And my hair pulls a little bit, too," Rob added. "I forgot to bring
my comb, or even my tooth-brush."

"Well, one thing," said Alex, as he built up the fire. "We'll have
some sheep meat for breakfast, all right. The animal heat will be all
out of it now, and we'll have a hearty