ce across its vastness.

White space, a feeling of littleness and impotence, twilight gloom,
burnished night, bitter cold, unreality, phantasmagoria, ghosts like
those which surged about Aeneas, and finally clogging, white
silence,--these were the simple but dreadful elements of that journey
which lasted, without event, from the middle of November until the
latter part of January.

Never in all that time was an hour of real comfort to be anticipated.
The labours of the day were succeeded by the shiverings of the night.
Exhaustion alone induced sleep; and the racking chill of early morning
alone broke it. The invariable diet was meat, tea, and pemmican. Besides
the resolution required for the day's journey and the night's
discomfort, was the mental anxiety as to whether or not game would be
found. Discouragements were many. Sometimes with full anticipation of a
good day's run, they would consume hours in painfully dragging the
sledge over unexpected obstructions. At such times Wolf, always of an
evil disposition, made trouble. Thus besides the resolution of spirit
necessary to the work, there had to be pumped up a surplusage to meet
the demands of difficult dog-driving. And when, as often happened, a
band of the gray wolves would flank them within smelling distance, the
exasperation of it became almost unbearable. Time and again Sam had
almost forcibly to restrain Dick from using the butt of his whip on
Wolf's head.

Nor could they treat themselves in the weary succession of days to an
occasional visit with human beings. During the course of their journey
they investigated in turn three of the four trapping districts of the
Kabinikagam. But Sam's judgment advised that they should not show
themselves to the trappers. He argued that no sane man would look for
winter posts at this time of year, and it might be difficult otherwise
to explain the presence of white men. It was quite easy to read by the
signs how many people were to be accounted for in each district, and
then it was equally easy to ambush in a tree, during the rounds for
examination of the traps, until their identities had all been
established. It was necessary to climb a tree in order to escape
discovery by the trapper's dog. Of course the trail of our travellers
would be found by the trapper, but unless he actually saw them he would
most probably conclude them to be Indians moving to the west.
Accordingly Dick made long detours to intercept the trappers, a