rcise to drive away the
creeping and paralyzing cold, and then he resolved upon his plan to
burst the trap. The night was fairly dark with streamers of cloud
floating across the heavens, and it might grow darker. Far to north and
south stretched the glimmering white ice, with dark spots here and
there, where the clumps of bushes or trees thrust themselves above the
frozen surface.

Wrapping himself as thoroughly as he could, and yet in the best way to
leave freedom of action, he crept from the bushes and bending low on the
ice ran to a clump about thirty yards to the south, where he crouched a
while, watching the warriors at the two fires. He could still see very
clearly their figures outlined in a black tracery against the flames,
and they might have sentinels posted nearer, but evidently his own
change of base had not been suspected. Perhaps the fear of his deadly
rifle kept them from coming so near that they could see his movements,
and they relied upon the great cold to hold him within the original
clump of bushes. The blood in his veins that had grown chill seemed
suddenly to turn warm again. Even a passage of a few yards from one
little island to another was enough to create hope. There was no trap so
tight in which he could not find a crevice, or make one, and he prepared
for the second stage in his journey, a cluster of trees a full hundred
yards to the south.

He would have dropped to his hands and knees if it had not been for the
fear of freezing his fingers, a risk that he could not afford to take
for a moment, alone in the desolate wilderness and surrounded by deadly
perils. So he merely stooped low and ran for the trees, the wrappings of
blanket on his feet saving him from slipping.

But he gained them and there was yet no alarm. The black tracery of the
Indian figures still showed before the fires, where they were hovering
for the sake of the grateful heat, and, as well as he could judge, his
flight was unsuspected.

The third island was much better than the first two. Although it was
only eight or ten yards across, it supported a cluster of large trees,
and had a little dip in the center, in which he lay, while the cruel
wind was broken off by the trees or passed over his head. There was an
access of warmth, and he had a tremendous temptation to lie there, but
he fought it. It was hard to distinguish warmth from numbness, and, if
he remained without motion, he would surely freeze to death, despite the