ot traveling in a circle.

"Hold on, boys; this won't do!" Tom Arnold cried at last. "We can't go
any farther. We must find shelter and lie close until the morning, or
until the weather takes a turn."

CHAPTER XXXVI.

A PAINFUL MYSTERY.

But how and where should we seek shelter? Each man, I am sure, asked
himself that question uneasily, and the quest grew more hopeless as we
groped our way on for a quarter of an hour, our faces set against the
stinging cold wind and the biting snowflakes. Arnold was leading, and I
was some distance back, trudging alongside of Flora, and trying to keep
up her spirits.

But good fortune befell us when we least expected it. Exhausted and
half-blinded, we suddenly emerged from the tangled forest on a bit of an
open space. Before us was the bed of a frozen stream, now filled up with
drifted snow, and from the farther side of it a hill towered steeply,
affording almost complete protection from the violence of the wind. A
short distance on our left, nestled at the base of another hill, was a
little Indian village, long since deserted--a dozen tepees half-buried
in the snow, a couple of canoe frames protruding from a drift, and some
worn-out snowshoes hanging from a tree.

"By Jupiter! I know the spot," cried Tom Arnold, in a tone of
consternation and astonishment. "I remember the village and the stream!
Why, men, we are away out of our reckoning--on the wrong tack
altogether. This shows how easily a fellow can get lost in a blizzard,
no matter how old a hand he is."

"We're in luck, anyway," said I. "Here is decent shelter, and the hills
keep off the worst of the storm. We are safe for the night."

"And Fort Charter twenty miles away!" grumbled Arnold. "We've got to
reach it to-morrow, come good weather or bad. All hands to work," he
added sharply. "We'll make things as snug as possible."

We set to with a will and the exercise soon warmed our sluggish blood.
Some dug out the canoe frames and broke them up for fuel; others cleared
the loose snow from half a dozen of the huts, and we were delighted to
find them dry inside, and in sound condition. We did not hesitate to
build a roaring fire, for we knew that the light could not be seen at
any distance, and that if any hostile Indians were in the vicinity the
storm would have driven them to camp.

Twilight was falling when we found the abandoned village, and the
evening w