on were so great that, once beside our kill, we
could not even wait to devour the raw flesh, but slashed open a vein in
the neck and drank the warm blood. Nothing could have revived us more
quickly. Before many minutes we were strong enough to set about the
dressing of our game. As we worked, we devoured bits of meat, which
eased our famished stomachs and added yet more to our slowly returning
strength. By nightfall we had managed to butcher the carcass, and
loading ourselves with as much of the meat as we could carry, we
staggered off in search of the camp.

When at last we sighted the welcome blaze of the fires and dragged
ourselves into camp, it was past midnight. Neither of us could have gone
another furlong. As we threw off our loads and sank down beside the
fire, Pike was seized with so severe a vertigo that it was some time
before he could sense the joyful greetings of our camp-mates.

Even before they caught sight of the burdens we bore, the brave
sufferers had hailed our approach with heroic cheerfulness. Now, with
every mouthful of frozen meat, our leader recovered from his dizziness,
and generous strips of steak sizzling on the green-wood spits, the
spirits of all rose even to the pitch of merriment. Desperate as was
still our situation, it yet seemed like paradise after the anguish of
body and mind through which we had passed.

No men, I venture to say, ever bore pain and privation and hardship with
more heroic fortitude than was shown by these poor fellows. All but
three had been compelled to endure the agony of their frozen feet, in
addition to the pangs of starvation, and the sad truth that these
injuries went beyond a mere frosting was all too evident in the morning,
when, upon examining the men, I found that two of them, at the best,
would have to give up their packs and hobble along with the aid of
crutches. As for Dougherty and Sparks, both were too disabled to march
at all.

CHAPTER XIX

BEYOND THE BARRIER

But I will dwell no more in detail upon our sufferings in that terrible
valley of frost and famine. Enough said that, after bringing in the
remainder of the meat for Sparks and Dougherty, we left them and
struggled onward in search of a pass. To linger in camp with our
disabled comrades would have meant certain death to all. But many among
us wept at the parting, for few believed we should ever return.

Indeed, having eaten in one scant meal all the meat we had found heart
to take