two previous nights had been. Interminable seemed this
third. As long as the sun or moon or stars were shining, the man never
felt completely alone; but in this utter darkness the hours seemed like
days. The steadily falling snowflakes added to the impression of
loneliness and isolation. They were like the falling clods of earth in a
grave: something crowding between him and life, burying and suffocating
him where he stood. Try as he might, the man could not shake off the
weird impression, and at last he ceased the effort. Grimly stolid, he
lit his pipe, and, his damp clothing having dried at last, cleared a
fresh spot and lay down, the horrible loneliness still tugging at his
heart.

Finally, after an eternity of waiting, the morning came. With it the
storm ceased and the sun shone brightly. Behind the barricade, Ben Blair
ate the last of his beef and drank the few remaining swallows of water
from his canteen. His muscles were stiff from the inaction, and, not
wishing to show himself, he kicked vigorously into space as he lay. At
intervals he made inspection of the east, looking out over the glitter
of white; but not a living thing was in sight. An hour he watched, two
hours, while the sun, beating down obliquely, warmed him back into
activity; then of a sudden his eyes became fixed, the grip upon his
rifle tightened. Far to the southeast, something dark against the snow
was moving,--was coming toward him.

Rapidly the figure approached, while lower behind the barricade dropped
the body of Benjamin Blair. The sun was in his eyes, so that as yet he
could not make out whether it was man or beast. Not until the object was
within three hundred yards, until it passed by to the north, did Ben
make out that it was a great gray wolf headed straight for the bed of
Bad River.

Again two hours of unbroken monotony passed. The sun had almost reached
the meridian, and the man behind the barricade had all but decided he
must have miscalculated somehow, when in the dim distance as before
there appeared a tiny dark object, but this time directly from the east.
For five minutes Ben watched it fixedly, his hand shading his eyes;
then, slowly as moves the second-hand of a great clock, a change
indescribable came over his face. No need was there now to ask whether
it was a human being that was approaching. There was no mistaking that
slow, swinging man-motion. At last the moment was approaching for which
the youth had been striving so