and arrows. He marvelled at their skill. Indeed, he
did not observe a single arrow go astray of its mark.

Eleven birds were secured in this way--the first game they had seen,
and the last they were to see for several days.

A dead, awful cold settled upon the earth. The very atmosphere was
frozen. Rime in shimmering, glittering particles hung suspended in
space, and covered bushes, trees, and rocks--scintillating in the
sunlight and seeming to intensify the cold.

The few brief hours of sunshine were disregarded. The sun rose only to
tantalise. For three or four hours each day it hung close to the
horizon, then dropped again below the southwestern hills; and its rays
gave out no warmth.

No sign of game was seen near the Lake of Willows, and no halt was
made. The life of the Indians depended upon the killing of caribou.
The little cache of jerked venison and fish left near the Great Lake
would scarcely have sustained them a month. The few ptarmigans killed
now and again were of small assistance. The food they hauled was
nearly exhausted.

Then came a period of storm. For a week snow fell and gales blew with
such terrific fury that no living thing could have existed in the
open, and during this period a halt was unavoidable.

Once a day a small ration was doled out--pitifully small--enough to
tantalise appetite, but not to still hunger. Shad was consumed with a
craving for food. He could think of nothing but food. His days on the
trails and in the tilts with the trappers were remembered as days of
luxury and feasting. He wondered if Bob and the others had thought of
him when they ate their Christmas dinner of geese and ptarmigans. "Oh,
for one delicious meal of pork and camp bread. Oh, for one night of
the luxurious warmth of the river tilt!"

When the storm abated sufficiently to permit them to continue their
journey, he moved his legs mechanically, even forgetting at last that
the effort was painful. An insidious weakness was taking possession of
him. It was an effort to draw his lightly-laden toboggan. It made him
dizzy to swing an axe when he assisted Manikawan to cut wood for the
fire. His knees gave way under him when he sat down.

Manikawan's plump cheeks were sunken. Her eyes were growing big and
staring. Her mother had lost half her bulk, and Sishetakushin and
Mookoomahn were also noticeably affected. They no longer laughed and
seldom spoke.

As one performing a duty that must not under any circumst