y if I taste fresh vegetables
once a week during the summer. Say, Leslie, do you think it's possible
to assimilate the humble but useful hog by means of a steady diet of
'sour-belly'?"

Grey laughed.

"If that were possible I guess we ought to make the primest bacon.
Hallo, here comes the d----d neche. What's up now, I wonder? Well,
Rainy-Moon, what is it?"

The Indian had stopped his dogs and now turned back to speak to the
two men. His face was expressionless. He was a tall specimen of the
Cree Indian.

"Ugh," he grunted, as he came to a standstill. Then he stretched out
his arm with a wide sweep in the direction of the mountains. "No good,
white-men--coyote, yes. So," and he pointed to the south and made a
motion of running, "yes. Plenty beef, plenty fire-water. White-man
store." His face slowly expanded into a smile. Then the smile died out
suddenly and he turned to the north and made a long 'soo-o-o-sh' with
rising intonation, signifying the rising wind. "Him very bad.
White-man sleep--sleep. Wake--no." And he finished up with a shake of
the head.

Then his arm dropped to his side, and he waited for Grey to speak. For
a moment the Customs officer remained silent. Chillingwood waited
anxiously. Both men understood the Indian's meaning. Chillingwood
believed the man to be right about the trail. As to the coming storm,
and the probable consequences if they were caught in it, that was
patent to all three.

But Grey, with characteristic pig-headedness, gave no heed to the
superior intelligence of the Indian where matters of direction in a
wild country were concerned. He _knew_ he was on the right trail. That
was sufficient for him. But he surveyed the surrounding mountains well
before he spoke. They had halted in a sort of cup-like hollow, with
towering sides surmounted by huge glaciers down which the wind was now
whistling with vicious force. There were only two exits from this vast
arena. The one by which the travellers had entered it, and the other
directly ahead of them; the latter was only to be approached by a wide
ledge which skirted one of the mountains and inclined sharply upwards.
Higher up the mountain slope was a belt of pinewoods, close to which
was a stubbly growth of low bush. This was curiously black in contrast
with the white surroundings, for no snow was upon its weedy branches
and shrivelled, discoloured leaves. Suddenly, while Grey was looking
out beyond the dog-train, he observed the impres