gs tied up with bits of cord, to keep the deep snow from
reaching up to their boot-tops. Their course was directly for the river.

It was so dark they could see little or nothing, saving the whiteness
which spread in all directions.

"Hullo! hullo!" yelled John Barrow, when the river was gained.

"Help!" came back faintly. "Help!"

"Somebody over thar!" said the guide, and pointed a short distance up
the stream. "Guess he's in a peck o' trouble, too."

He started in the direction, and Dick came close behind. The party in
distress was a man, whose cries for aid were gradually becoming weaker
and weaker. Before they reached the individual his voice ceased
entirely.

"He has fainted from exhaustion," said John Barrow, as he reached the
wayfarer.

"Why, it's Jasper Grinder, our old teacher," ejaculated Dick.

The eldest Rover was right. The unfortunate man was indeed the former
teacher of Putnam Hall, but so pinched and haggard as to be scarcely
recognized. He had fallen on a bare rock, and this had cut open his left
cheek, from which the blood was flowing.

CHAPTER XXVI.

AN UNWELCOME COMRADE.

"He's in a bad way, that's certain," was Dick's comment, as he surveyed
the prostrate form. Even though Jasper Grinder was an enemy, he could
not help but feel sorry for the man.

"We must get him up to our shelter as soon as possible," replied John
Barrow. "It is easy to see he is half frozen--and maybe starved."

"Shall we carry him?"

"We'll have to; there is no other way."

Slinging their guns across their backs, they raised up the form of the
unconscious man. He was a dead weight, and to carry him through that
deep snow was no light task. Less than half the distance to the shelter
was covered when Dick called a halt.

"I'll have to rest up!" he gasped. "He weighs a ton."

But in a few minutes he resumed the journey, and now they did not stop
with their load until the shelter was reached. Tom and Sam were watching
for them.

"Jasper Grinder, by all that's wonderful!" burst out Tom.

"Was he alone?" questioned Sam.

"He was, so far as we could see," answered Dick. "I can tell you, he's
almost a case for an undertaker."

This remark made everyone feel sober, and while the two younger Rovers
stirred up the fire, Dick and the guide did all in their power to bring
the unconscious man to his senses. Some hot coffee was poured down his
throat, and his hands and back were vigorously rubbed.

"Oh!" ca