They are everywhere watching. They are there, in pairs,
merciless, savage eyes, only awaiting opportunity. It is the primeval
forest world where man is no more than those other creatures who seek to
support the life that is thrust upon them.

These things were only a few of the voiceless hauntings which never
ceased. Steve and his companions knew them all by heart. Every sound,
every cadence told its tale. Every danger, with which they were
surrounded, was calculated to a fraction and left them undisturbed.

Slowly the power of the firelight lessened. For all the stirring and
replenishing, the flickering blaze yielded before the steadily growing
twilight, and presently it sulkily abandoned the unequal contest. The
dawn had come.

It was sufficient. Steve rose from his seat and stretched himself. Then,
moving over to the wood pile he replenished the fire and set the camp
kettle to boil. After that he passed on to the two figures still
sleeping under their furs.

Oolak was the first to reach full wakefulness, and he promptly crawled
from his sleeping-bag. Steve's instructions were brief and to the point.

"Fix the dogs," he ordered. And Oolak grunted his simple acquiescence.

As Julyman broke from his spell of dreaming Steve indicated the camp
kettle.

"I've set it to boil. I'll take a look outside," he said.

He passed on without waiting for reply and his way followed the track
which the sled had left in the rotting underlay, where over night it had
been laboriously hauled into the shelter of the woods.

His movements were vigorous. The bulk of his outer clothing robbed him
of much of such height as he possessed, but it added to the natural
appearance of muscular sturdiness which was always his. His mission was
important, for on his accurate reading of the elemental conditions
depended immediate movements, and safety or disaster for his expedition.

As he neared the break in the forest, through which their course lay,
the twilight gave before the light of day, and through the aisles of
bare tree-trunks ahead he beheld the white carpet which night had laid.
Nearly a foot of snow had fallen, and everywhere under its burden the
foliage drooped dismally in the perfect morning light.

These things, however, were without serious concern. Steve knew that for
the next seven months the earth would lie deep buried under its winter
pall. That was the condition under which most of his work was carried
on. It was the sunr