lter.

"Unpossible!" said Larry, with much gravity, as he helped himself to
another can of tea.

"Come, time's up," said Robin abruptly, as he rose to put on his
snow-shoes.

Larry swallowed the tea at a draught, the others rose promptly, and in a
few minutes more they were again on the march.

Towards noon they issued out of the woods upon a wide undulating
country, which extended, as far as the eye could see, to faint blue
mountains in the distance. This region was varied in character and
extremely beautiful. The undulations of the land resembled in some
places the waves of the sea. In other places there were clumps of trees
like islets. Elsewhere there were hollows in which lakelets and ponds
evidently existed, but the deep snow covered all these with a uniform
carpet. In some parts the ground was irregular and broken by miniature
hills, where there were numerous abrupt and high precipices.

The party were approaching one of the latter in the afternoon, when
Robin suddenly paused and pointed to a projecting ledge on the face of
one of the cliffs.

"What would ye say yonder objic' was?" he inquired of Slugs.

The hunter shaded his eyes with his hand, and remained silent for a few
seconds.

"It _looks_ like a sled," said he, dropping his hand, "but how it got
thar' would puzzle even a redskin to tell, for there's no track up to
that ledge."

"It _is_ a sled," said Black Swan, curtly.

"An' how came it there?" asked Robin.

"It fell from the top," replied the Indian.

"Right, lad, yer right!" said Slugs, who had taken another long look at
the object in question; "I see somethin' like a broken tree near the top
o' the precipice. I hope Wapaw hain't gone an' tumbled over that
cliff."

This supposition was received in silence and with grave looks, for all
felt that the thing was not impossible, but the Indian shook his head.

"Come, Black Swan," said Walter, "you don't agree with us--what think
ye?"

"Wapaw had no sled with him," replied the Indian.

"Right again!" cried Slugs; "I do believe my sense is forsakin' me; an
Injun baby might have thought of that, for his tracks are plain enough.
Hows'ever, let's go see, for it's o' no use standin' here guessin'."

The party at once advanced to the foot of the precipice, and for nearly
an hour they did their utmost to ascend to the ledge, on which the
sledge lay, but their efforts were in vain. The rock was everywhere too
steep and smooth to afford