sullen clouds kept drifting over and a wind got lost in
the trees that kept them rocking and groaning in a horrid way. But we
were just as cozy as we could be and rest was as good as anything.

I wish you could once sleep on the kind of bed we enjoyed that night.
It was both soft and firm, with the clean, spicy smell of the pine. The
heat from our big fire came in and we were warm as toast. It was so
good to stretch out and rest. I kept thinking how superior I was since
I dared to take such an outing when so many poor women down in Denver
were bent on making their twenty cents per hour in order that they
could spare a quarter to go to the "show." I went to sleep with a
powerfully self-satisfied feeling, but I awoke to realize that pride
goeth before a fall.

I could hardly remember where I was when I awoke, and I could almost
hear the silence. Not a tree moaned, not a branch seemed to stir. I
arose and my head came in violent contact with a snag that was not
there when I went to bed. I thought either I must have grown taller or
the tree shorter during the night. As soon as I peered out, the mystery
was explained.

Such a snowstorm I never saw! The snow had pressed the branches down
lower, hence my bumped head. Our fire was burning merrily and the heat
kept the snow from in front. I scrambled out and poked up the fire;
then, as it was only five o'clock, I went back to bed. And then I began
to think how many kinds of idiot I was. Here I was thirty or forty
miles from home, in the mountains where no one goes in the winter and
where I knew the snow got to be ten or fifteen feet deep. But I could
never see the good of moping, so I got up and got breakfast while Baby
put her shoes on. We had our squirrels and more baked potatoes and I
had delicious black coffee.

After I had eaten I felt more hopeful. I knew Mr. Stewart would hunt
for me if he knew I was lost. It was true, he wouldn't know which way
to start, but I determined to rig up "Jeems" and turn him loose, for I
knew he would go home and that he would leave a trail so that I could
be found. I hated to do so, for I knew I should always have to be
powerfully humble afterwards. Anyway it was still snowing, great, heavy
flakes; they looked as large as dollars. I didn't want to start "Jeems"
until the snow stopped because I wanted him to leave a clear trail. I
had sixteen loads for my gun and I reasoned that I could likely kill
enough food to last twice that many days