left ankle. The swelling had gone down a little, and he could move
it with more freedom than on the day before, but he could not yet walk.
Once more he made his grim calculation. In two days he could certainly
walk and hunt game or make a try for "The Alcove," so far as his ankle
was concerned, but would hunger overpower him before that time? Gaining
strength in one direction, he was losing it in another.

Now he began to grow angry with himself. The light inroad that famine
made upon his will was telling. It seemed incredible that he, so
powerful, so skillful, so self reliant, so long used to the wilderness
and to every manner of hardship, should be held there in a snowbank by
a bruised ankle to die like a crippled rabbit. His comrades could not be
more than ten miles away. He could walk. He would walk! He stood upright
and stepped out into the snow, but pain, so agonizing that he could
scarcely keep from crying out, shot through his whole body, and he sank
back into the shelter, sure not to make such an experiment again for
another full day.

The day passed much like its predecessor, except that he took down the
blanket cover of his snow hut and kindled up his fire again, more for
the sake of cheerfulness than for warmth, because he was not suffering
from cold. There was a certain life and light about the coals and the
bright flame, but the relief did not last long, and by and by he let it
go out. Then be devoted himself to watching the heavens and the surface
of the snow. Some winter bird, duck or goose, might be flying by, or a
wandering deer might be passing. He must not lose any such chance. He
was more than ever a fierce creature of prey, sitting at the mouth of
his den, the rifle across his knee, his tanned face so thin that the
cheek bones showed high and sharp, his eyes bright with fever and the
fierce desire for prey, and the long, lean body drawn forward as if it
were about to leap.

He thought often of dragging himself down to the lake, breaking a hole
in the ice, and trying to fish, but the idea invariably came only to be
abandoned. He had neither hook nor bait. In the afternoon he chewed the
edge of his buckskin hunting shirt, but it was too thoroughly tanned
and dry. It gave back no sustenance. He abandoned the experiment and lay
still for a long time.

That night he had a slight touch of frenzy, and began to laugh at
himself. It was a huge joke! What would Timmendiquas or Thayendanegea
think of him