a yawn.

"I feel sleepy, d----d sleepy. Wonder if Rainy-Moon has got the sleigh
loaded."

Smith emitted another dense cloud of smoke from between his pursed
lips; he seemed wrapt in the luxurious enjoyment of his smoke. Robb
Chillingwood's eyelids were drooping, and his pipe had gone out. Quite
suddenly the trapper's eyes were turned on the face of Grey, and the
smoke from his pipe was chiefly directed towards him.

"There's time enough yet," he said quietly. "Half-an-hour more or less
won't make much difference to you on the road. You were talking of
travellers' tales, and I reckon you were thinking of fairy yarns that
some folks think it smart to spin. Well, maybe those same stories have
some foundation in fact, and ain't all works of imagination. Anyhow,
my experience has taught me never to disbelieve until I've some good
sound grounds for doing so."

He paused and gazed with a far-off look at the opposite wall. Then a
shadowy smile stole over his face, and he went on. His companions'
heads had drooped slowly forward, and their eyes were heavy with
sleep. Grey was fighting against the drowsiness by jerking his head
sharply upwards, but his eyes would close in spite of his efforts.

"Well, I never thought that I'd get caught napping," continued Smith,
with a chuckle. "I thought I knew these regions well enough, but I
didn't. I lost my way, too, and came near to losing my life----"

He broke off abruptly as Robb Chillingwood slowly rolled over on
his side and began to snore loudly. Then Smith turned back to Leslie
Grey, and leaning forward, so that his face was close to that of
the officer, blew clouds of the pungent smoke right across the
half-stupefied man's mouth and nostrils.

"I lost other things," he then went on meditatively, "but not my life.
I lost that which was more precious to me. I lost gold--gold! I lost
the result of many weary months of toil. I had hoarded it up that I
might go down to the east and buy a nice little ranch, and settle down
into a comfortable, respectable man of property. I didn't even wait
until the spring opened so that I could take the river route. No, that
wasn't my way, because I knew it would cost a lot of money and I
wasn't overburdened with wealth. I had just enough----"

He puffed vigorously at his pipe. Grey's head was now hanging forward
and his chin rested on his chest.

There came the sound of Rainy-Moon's voice adjuring the dogs outside
the door of the dugout. The