unhappy place to
endure alone. The storm and the snow-swept marshes, with Bill beside
her, were infinitely preferable to the haunting fear and loneliness of
solitude. The change in her attitude toward him had been complete.

Dressing warmly, they ventured out into the snowy wastes. The storm had
neither heightened nor decreased. The snow still sifted down steadily,
with a relentlessness that was someway dreadful to the spirit. The
drifts were about their knees by now; and the mere effort of walking was
a serious business. The winter silence lay deep over the wilderness.

It was a curious thing not to hear the rustle of a branch, the crack of
a twig; only the muffled sound of their footsteps in the snow. Bill
walked in front, breaking trail. He carried the ancient rifle ready in
his hands.

The truth was that Bill did not wish to overlook any possible chance for
game. Each hour traveling was more difficult, the snow encroached
higher, and soon he could not hunt at all without snowshoes. It was not
good for their spirits or their bodies to try to live without meat in
the long snowshoe-making process. This was no realm for vegetarians.
The readily assimilated animal flesh was essential to keep their tissues
strong.

Fortune had not been particularly kind so far on this trip--at least
from Virginia's point of view--but he did earnestly hope that they
might run into game at once. Later the moose would go to their winter
feeding grounds, far down the heights. Every day they hunted, their
chance of procuring meat was less.

He led her over the ridge to the marshy shores of Gray Lake,--a dismal
body of water over which the waterfowl circled endlessly and the loons
shrieked their maniacal cries. He noticed, with some apprehension, that
many sea birds had taken to the lake for refuge,--gulls and their
fellows. This fact meant to the woodsman that great storms were raging
at sea, and they themselves would soon feel the lash of them. They
waited in the shadow of the spruce.

"Don't make any needless motions," he cautioned, "and don't speak aloud.
They've got eyes and ears like hawks."

It was not easy to stand still, in the snow and the cold, waiting for
game to appear. Virginia was uncomfortable within half an hour,
shivering and tired. In an hour the cold had gripped her; her hands
were lifeless, her toes ached. Yet she stood motionless, uncomplaining.

It was a long wait that they had beside the lake