ld, and every now and then there was a roar and a
rattle as the stones they dislodged plunged into the depths of it.
Weston, plodding along behind the freighter, however, kept his eyes
fixed for the most part on the face of the hill, for it seemed to him
that the cost of changing that perilous passage into a reasonably safe
trail would not be excessive.

When they had climbed for an hour, the snow grew thicker, and it
became evident that the light was dying out rapidly. The freighter
announced that he could scarcely see a dozen yards ahead, and Weston
could discern no more than the blurred shape of the horse that
floundered over the slippery stones a few paces in front of him. He
could, however, hear Devine encouraging the one he led, and
occasionally breaking out into hoarse expletives.

"It's gluey feet they want," said the latter, when they stopped for a
minute or two. "You can't expect horses to crawl up a wall."

"They've managed about half of it," Weston declared. "We could make
this quite an easy trail with a little grading. It's the only really
difficult spot."

"Well," said Devine, dryly, "I guess you could. In this country they
call any trail easy that you can crawl up on your hands and knees.
Still, that little grading's going to cost you about two thousand
dollars a mile."

They could scarcely see one another when they went on again, and the
sound of their footsteps was muffled by the sliding snow. Weston could
dimly make out something that moved on in front of him, but it had no
certain shape, and he stumbled heavily every now and then as the
stones rolled round beneath him. He gripped the pack-horse's bridle in
a half-numbed hand, but, as he admitted afterward, he made no attempt
to lead the beast. He said he rather clung to it for company, for the
others vanished now and then for minutes amidst the whirling snow.

Suddenly there was a crash and a cry behind him. For a moment he stood
half-dazed, with his hand on the bridle, while the jaded horse
plunged. Then he let it go as the freighter appeared, and together
they stumbled back to where Devine was clinging to the bridle of
another horse which lay close at his feet amidst a wreath of snow. He
staggered back just as they reached him; there was a frantic
scrambling in the snow, and then the half-seen horse rolled over and
slid away down the white slope of the gully.

They watched it, horrified, for a moment or two; and said nothing for
a brief spa