bank of the
lake. See? And you ride him into the water and get him to scramble up on
one of those ice-cakes. Do you get it? It'll be a whale of a picture."

"Joe," I said, in a stern voice, "did you ever try to make a horse go
into an icy lake and climb on to an ice-cake? Because if you have, you
can do it now. I can turn the camera all right. Anyhow," I added firmly,
"I've been photographed enough. This film is going to look as if I'd
crossed the Cascades alone. Some of you other people ought to have a
chance."

But a moving-picture man after a picture is as determined as a cook who
does not like the suburbs.

I rode Buddy to the brink of the lake, and there spoke to him in
friendly tones. I observed that this lake was like other lakes, only
colder, and that it ought to be mere play after the day before. I also
selected a large ice-cake, which looked fairly solid, and pointed Buddy
at it.

Then I kicked him. He took a step and began to shake. Then he leaped six
feet to one side and reared, still shaking. Then he turned round and
headed for the camp.

By that I was determined on the picture. There is nothing like two wills
set in opposite directions to determine a woman. Buddy and I again and
again approached the lake, mostly sideways. But at last he went in, took
twenty steps out, felt the cold on his poor empty belly, and--refused
the ice-cake. We went out much faster than we went in, making the bank
in a great bound and a very bad humor--two very bad humors.

XVI

OVER CASCADE PASS

To get out of the Doubtful Lake plateau to Cascade Pass it was necessary
to climb eight hundred feet up a steep and very slippery cliffside. On
the other side lay the pass, but on the level of the lake. It was here
that we "went up a hill one day and then went down again" with a
vengeance. And on this cliffside it was that the little gray mare went
over again, falling straight on to a snow-bank, which saved her, and
then rolling over and over shedding parts of our equipment, and landing
far below dazed and almost senseless.

It was on the top of that wall above Doubtful Lake that I had the
greatest fright of the trip.

That morning, as a special favor, the Little Boy had been allowed to go
ahead with Mr. Hilligoss, who was to clear trail and cut footholds where
they were necessary. When we were more than halfway to the top of the
wall above the lake, two alternative routes to the top offered
themselves, one to the r