should drip
along his trail. Then, he slipped the strap into place across his
forehead, and sped eastward... And now, instead of the dread
companions--fear and starvation--that had dogged his footsteps, he
ran hand in hand with hope.

Morning brought him out of the forest to the open prairie, fortunately
a fairly level tract of land. This meant fast going, and McTavish,
stronger than he had been for many hours past, on account of a
hearty meal of bear meat, swung off across the crust at a kind of
loping run. He did not walk now, but went forward on long, sliding
strokes that would have kept a dog at a fast trot. Far, far in the
distance, he saw the friendly shelter of woods, and, with eyes on
the hard snow-crust beneath him, laid a course thither. Here on
the prairie, the crust was the result of the soft Chinook west
winds that came across the ranges, and melted the snow swiftly--only
to let it freeze again into a sheathing of armor-plate.

To-day, the sun rose clear in a brilliant sky, and threw its oblique
rays across the glaring snow-fields, so that they appeared to be
of burnished glass. After awhile, Donald imagined that the colors
of the rainbow were being mysteriously hurled down from heaven,
for everywhere he looked he saw purple and green and yellow patches
dancing against the white. He tried to follow them with his eyes,
but they kept just to the right or the left of vision, so that he
never got a fair look at them. Somehow, too, they blinded him, and
presently he drew the hood over his face to shut out at least a
part of the glare. But, since he was traveling fast, he soon became
almost suffocated under the heavy envelope, and for relief was
forced to throw aside the _capote_, and again expose himself to
the blistering sunlight. ... At noon, he could only just make out
a very dim line in the distance, which told him where were the
coveted trees of the forest. Although he was many miles nearer to
them than he had been at dawn, they seemed farther away. The fact
taught him beyond peradventure of doubt that something was wrong.
Under a new urge of fear, he pressed forward without a moment of
delay, save once for a tin cupful of tea. He realized the vital
necessity of reaching the fringe of the wood by nightfall. Else,
he would be exposed to the dangers of darkness on the open plains,
without protection of any sort. The thought goaded him to desperate
speed.

Now, black and purple and red patches joined the