rthern regions
as the week of the great storm, unexampled in its length and ferocity.

But Henry found nothing in it to frighten him. Rather, the greater
powers were still watching over him, and it was sent for his protection.
His own bold and wild spirit remained in tune with it at all times. The
brush hut was warm and snug and it held fast against wind, hail and
snow. Now and then he lighted the fire anew to warm over his food or
merely to see the bright blaze.

At the end of the week he shot a deer among a herd that had found
shelter in extremely deep woods at the north end of the island, and
never did he do a deed more reluctantly. But it gave an abundance of
fresh food, which he now needed badly, and he added to his stores two
wild turkeys.

When the storm ceased entirely a very deep snow fell, and he put off his
intention to leave. He expected to use the canoe, but he might be
forced to leave it, and, traveling in the woods with the snow above a
man's knees, would be too hard. So he waited patiently, and made his
little home as comfortable as he could.

In another week the snow began to melt fast, and he set forth on his
great return journey. The canoe was well supplied with provisions and
the lake was quiet. He paddled for the mouth of the river, and, when he
passed within the stream, the whole country looked so wintry that he
believed the Indians must have gone to their villages for warmth and
shelter. Firm in his opinion he paddled boldly against the current and
took his course southward, though he did not relax his caution, as the
Indians often sent out parties of hunters, despite cold or storm. They
were not a forehanded people, and the plenty of summer was no guard
against the scarcity of winter. They must find game or die, and Henry
had very little real fear of anything except these questing bands.

But he paddled on all the day without interruption. The dense forest on
either shore was white and silent, and, when night came, he drew the
canoe into the bushes, making his camp on land. The temperature had
taken a great fall in the afternoon, and with the dark intense cold had
come. The mercury went far below zero and the bitter wind that blew bit
through the painted coat and all his clothing clean into the bone. It
was so intense that he resolved to risk everything and build a fire.

He managed to set a heap of dead wood burning in the lee of a hill, and
he fed the fire for a long time, at last letting