gave forth no smoke, stretched the blanket over
his head in the manner of a roof, and once more resumed his quiet and
stillness. He was now like a crippled animal in its lair, but he was
warm, and his wound did not hurt him. But hunger began to trouble him.
He was young and so powerful that his frame demanded much sustenance.
Now it cried aloud its need! He ate two or three handfuls of snow, and
for a few moments it seemed to help him a little, but his hunger soon
came back as strong as ever. Then he tightened his belt and sat in grim
silence, trying to forget that there was any such thing as food.

The effort of the will was almost a success throughout the afternoon,
but before night it failed. He began to have roseate visions of Long Jim
trying venison, wild duck, bear, and buffalo steaks over the coals. He
could sniff the aroma, so powerful had his imagination become, and,
in fancy, his month watered, while its roof was really dry. They were
daylight visions, and he knew it well, but they taunted him and made his
pain fiercer. He slid forward a little to the mouth of his shelter, and
thrust out his rifle in the hope that he would see some wild creature,
no matter what; he felt that he could shoot it at any distance, and then
he would feast!

He saw nothing living, either on earth or in the air, only motionless
white, and beyond, showing but faintly now through the coming twilight,
the lofty cliff that had saved him.

He drew back into his lair, and the darkness came down. Despite his
hunger, he slept fairly well. In the night a little snow fell at times,
but his blanket roof protected him, and he remained dry and warm. The
new snow was, in a way, a satisfaction, as it completely hid his trail
from the glance of any wandering Indian. He awoke the next morning to
a gray, somber day, with piercing winds from the northwest. He did not
feel the pangs of hunger until he had been awake about a half hour, and
then they came with redoubled force. Moreover, he had become weaker in
the night, and, added to the loss of muscular strength, was a decrease
in the power of the will. Hunger was eating away his mental as well as
his physical fiber. He did not face the situation with quite the same
confidence that he felt the day before. The wilderness looked a little
more threatening.

His lips felt as if he were suffering from fever, and his shoulders and
back were stiff. But he drew his belt tighter again, and then uncovered
his