, and presently he
discovered that his left ankle was smarting and burning at a great rate.
But he did not mind these things at all, so complete was his sense of
victory. He looked up at the mighty white wall that stretched above him
fifteen hundred feet, and he wondered at his own tremendous exploit.
The wall ran away for miles, and the Iroquois could not reach him by any
easier path. He tried to make out figures on the brink looking down at
him, but it was too far away, and he saw only a black line.

He tightened the loose shoe and struck out across the lake. He was far
away from "The Alcove," and he did not intend to go there, lest the
Iroquois, by chance, come upon his trail and follow it to the refuge.
But as it was no more than two miles across the lake at that point, and
the Iroquois would have to make a great curve to reach the other side,
he felt perfectly safe. He walked slowly across, conscious all the
time of an increasing pain in his left ankle, which must now be badly
swollen, and he did not stop until he penetrated some distance among low
bills. Here, under an overhanging cliff with thick bushes in front, he
found a partial shelter, which he cleared out yet further. Then with
infinite patience he built a fire with splinters that he cut from dead
boughs, hung his blanket in front of it on two sticks that the flame
might not be seen, took off his snowshoes, leggins, and socks, and bared
his ankles. Both were swollen, but the left much more badly than the
other. He doubted whether he would be able to walk on the following day,
but he rubbed them a long time, both with the palms of his hands and
with snow, until they felt better. Then he replaced his clothing, leaned
back against the faithful snowshoes which had saved his life, however
much they had hurt his ankles, and gave himself up to the warmth of the
fire.

It was very luxurious, this warmth and this rest, after so long and
terrible a flight, and he was conscious of a great relaxation, one
which, if he yielded to it completely, would make his muscles so stiff
and painful that he could not use them. Hence he stretched his arms and
legs many times, rubbed his ankles again, and then, remembering that he
had venison, ate several strips.

He knew that he had taken a little risk with the fire, but a fire he was
bound to have, and he fed it again until he had a great mass of glowing
coals, although there was no blaze. Then he took down the blanket,
wrapped