mit me to climb out upon it.

The ice that immediately formed on my clothing make walking impossible,
and reluctantly I halted to build a fire and dry myself. This took
fully an hour and a half, to my extreme vexation. I realised now that
my hope of reaching Hubbard that night was vain. While I dried my
clothing, I made a cup of tea. I had just enough left for two brewings,
so after drinking the tea I preserved the leaves for further use,
wrapping them carefully in a bit of rag. Once more on my way up the
valley, I found, to my consternation and almost despair, that my eyes
would again compel me to stop, and for nearly an hour I sat with them
closed. That night, with the snow still falling, though very lightly,
I made my couch of boughs by a fairly comfortable fire, and rested well.

On Thursday morning (October 22d) a light snow was failing, and the
weather was very cold. The cup of thin gruel that I made from the
green lumps of mould nauseated me, and I had to brew some tea to settle
my stomach and stimulate me. With my piece of blanket drawn over my
head to protect my ears from the biting wind, and with my hands wrapped
in the folds, I continued my struggle towards camp. I had to force my
way, blindly and desperately, through thick clumps of fir trees, and as
the branches were hanging low under their weight of feathery snow, I
continually received a deluge of snow in my face.

My stock of matches was small and time was precious, and I did not stop
at noon to build a fire. Even when night began to close in upon me I
still plodded on, believing that I now must be near Hubbard. The snow
was falling gently, and as there was a moon behind the clouds the night
was sufficiently light for me to make my way tediously through the
trees, with the roar of the rapids to guide me. It must have been near
midnight when, utterly exhausted, I was forced to abandon the hope of
finding Hubbard before morning. Fearing that the mould would again
sicken me, I ate nothing when I halted; I simply collected a few dry
sticks and huddled for the remainder of the night by a miserable fire,
dozing and awaking with a shudder from awful dreams.

The storm continued during the night, and with the morning of Friday
(October 23d) broke upon the world and me with renewed fury. I
prepared myself another dose of the mould, and forced it down. I was
nervously anxious to get on and find Hubbard. I knew I must be near
him now, although the