nurse. She
brought him water to bathe his face, which was very sore from
frostbite, and gave him the choicest morsels from the kettle, and made
him as comfortable as possible.

At first he held a faint hope that when Bill missed him at the tilt, a
search would be made for him and his friends would find the wigwam.
But as the days slipped by he realized that he would probably never be
discovered. There came a fear that the news of his disappearance would
be carried to Wolf Bight and he dreaded the effect upon his mother and
Emily.

But there was one consolation. Emily could go to the hospital now and
be cured. Bill would find the silver fox skin and his share of that
and the other furs would pay not only his own but his father's debts,
he felt sure, as well as all the expense of Emily's treatment by the
doctor--and a good surplus of cash--how much he could not imagine and
did not try to calculate--for the doctor had said that silver foxes
were worth five hundred dollars in cash. This thought gave him a
degree of satisfaction that towered so far above his troubles that he
almost forgot them.

In a little while he was quite strong and active again. Finally a day
came when the Indians made preparations to move. The wigwam was taken
down and with all their belongings packed upon toboggans, and under
the cold stars of a January morning, they turned to the northward, and
Bob had no other course than to go with them even farther from the
loved ones and the home that his heart so longed to see.

XIII

A FOREBODING OF EVIL

Never before had Bob been away from home for more than a week at a
time, and his mother and Emily were very lonely after his departure in
September. They missed his rough good-natured presence with the noise
and confusion that always followed him no less than his little
thoughtful attentions. They forgot the pranks that the overflow of his
young blood sometimes led him into, remembering only his gentler side.
He had helped Emily to pass the time less wearily, often sitting for
hours at a time by her couch, telling her stories or joking with her,
or making plans for the future, and she felt his absence now perhaps
more than even his mother. Many times during the first week or so
after his going she found herself turning wistfully towards the door
half expecting to see him enter, at the hours when he used to come
back from the fishing, and then she would realize that he was really
gone away, an