and only so much," he
said.

They were constantly building fires in the wilderness, but the fire
they built that morning was the hardest of them all to start. They
selected, as usual, the lee of a rocky uplift, and, then by the
patient use of flint and steel, and, after many failures, they
kindled a blaze that would last. But in their reduced state the labor
exhausted them, and it was some time before they drew any life from
the warmth. When the circulation had been restored somewhat they piled
on more wood, taking the chance of being seen. They even went so far
as to build a second fire, that they might sit between the two and dry
themselves more rapidly. Then they waited in silence the coming of the
dawn.

CHAPTER III

THE BRAVE DEFENSE

Robert hoped for a fair morning. Surely Areskoui would relent now! But
the sun that crept languidly up the horizon was invisible to them,
hidden by a dark curtain of clouds that might shed, at any moment,
torrents of rain or hail or snow. The whole earth swam in chilly
damp. Banks of cold fog filled the valleys and gorges, and shreds and
patches of it floated along the peaks and ridges. The double fires had
dried his clothing and had sent warmth into his veins, increasing his
vitality somewhat, but it was far below normal nevertheless. He had an
immense aversion to further movement. He wanted to stay there between
the coals, awaiting passively whatever fate might have for him.
Somehow, his will to make an effort and live seemed to have gone.

While weakness grew upon him and he drooped by the fire, he did not
feel hunger, but it was only a passing phase. Presently the desire for
food that had gnawed at him with sharp teeth came back, and with it
his wish to do, like one stirred into action by pain. Hunger itself
was a stimulus and his sinking vitality was arrested in its decline.
He looked around eagerly at the sodden scene, but it certainly held
out little promise of game. Deer and bear would avoid those steeps,
and range in the valleys. But the will to action, stimulated back to
life, remained. However comfortable it was between the fires they must
not stay there to perish.

"Why don't we go on?" he said to Willet.

"I'm glad to hear you ask that question," replied the hunter.

"Why, Dave?"

"Because it shows that you haven't given up. If you've got the courage
to leave such a warm and dry place you've got the courage also to make
another fight for life. And you