nd the constant, slow unraveling of his memory
problems, each day yielded rich gifts: no less than added trust in each
other. Always they found each other steadfast, utterly to be relied
upon. Ezram never regretted for a moment his offer to Ben. The young man
had seemingly developed under his eye and was a real aid to him in all
the problems of the journey.

As the days passed, the whole tone and key of the land had seemed to
change. They were full in the mountains now, snow gleaming on the
heights, forests blue-black on the slopes; and Ben's response was a
growing excitement that at first he could not analyze. The air was
sweeter, more bracing, and sometimes he discerned a fleeting, delicate
odor that drew him up short in his talk and held him entranced. There
was a sparkle and stir in the air, unknown in the cities he had left;
and to breathe it deeply thrilled him with an unexplainable happiness.

Some way it was all familiar, all dear to him as if it had once been
close to his life. The sparkle in the air was not new, only recalled:
long and long ago he had wakened to find just such a delicate fragrance
in his nostrils. But the key hadn't come to him yet. His memory pictures
were ever stronger of outline, clearer in his mind's eye, yet they were
still too dim for him to interpret them. In these days Ezram watched him
closely, with a curious, intense interest.

It was no longer pleasant to sleep out in the hay. For the sake of
warmth alone they were obliged to hire their night's lodging at cheap
hotels. Spring was full in the land they had left: it was just
beginning here. The mountains, visible from the village of Saltsville
where they left the railroad, were still swept with snow.

Ben felt that he would have liked to take a day off at this point and
venture with his companion into the high, wooded hills that fronted the
town, but he agreed with Ezram that they could not spare the time. They
swiftly made preparations for their journey down-river. A canoe was
bought for a reasonable sum--they were told they had a good chance of
selling it again when they left the river near Snowy Gulch--and at the
general store they bought an axe, rudimentary fishing tackle, tobacco,
blankets, and all manner of simpler provisions, such as flour, rice,
bacon, coffee, canned milk, and sugar. And for a ridiculously small sum
which he mysteriously produced from the pocket of his faded jeans Ezram
bought a second-hand rifle--an ancien