past this big
rock before," and she pointed to one that reared up from the snow.

Alice paused for a moment, and then, with a curious note of fear in her
voice, she said:

"I--I am afraid we are lost, Ruth. Oh, it is all my fault!"

CHAPTER XXII

THE THREE MEN

They stood there together--the two moving picture girls--in the midst of
the sudden storm. They stood with their arms about each other, and the
frightened eyes of Alice gazed into the terror-stricken ones of Ruth.

"Alice," cried Ruth, "do you really think we are lost?"

"I'm afraid so. I didn't notice which way we were going; but, as you
say, we didn't pass that rock before. We must be lost!"

"But what are we to do?"

"We've got to do something, that's sure!" Alice exclaimed. "We can't
stay here and freeze."

"Of course not. But if we go on in the storm we may be snowed under."

"And I'm more afraid to stay here. We must keep on the move, Ruth."

"Yes, I suppose so. Oh, if we could only see our way! We can't be so
very far from Elk Lodge."

"We are not," agreed Alice. "We did not walk fast, and we have not been
gone very long. The Lodge can't be more than two miles away; but it
might just as well be two hundred for all the good that does us in this
storm."

Indeed the snow was so thick that it was impossible to see many feet
ahead. The white flakes swirled, seeming to come first from one
direction, and then from another. The wind blew from all points of the
compass, varying so quickly that the girls found it impossible to keep
it at their backs.

"Well, there is one thing we can do," said Alice, when they had advanced
a few steps and then retreated, not knowing whether it was better to
keep on or not.

"And what is it?" asked Ruth. "If there's any one thing to do in a case
like this I want to know it."

"We can go over behind that rock and get a little protection from the
wind and snow," Alice went on. "See, the snow has drifted on one side;
and the other is quite bare. That shows it affords some shelter. Let's
go over there."

"Come on," agreed Ruth. She caught her sister's arm in a firmer grasp,
and the two girls plowed their way through the snow. They had,
heretofore, been on a sort of path, that had been formed over the crust.
The girls had on their snowshoes or they would have scarcely been able
to progress. As it was the going was sufficiently difficult.

"Oh, wait a moment!" panted Ruth, half way to the sheltering rock.