overed continuously around thirty to
forty degrees below zero. The ear muffs, the caps and the gloves, too,
were necessities, but they had the comfort of believing that if the
fierce winter presented great difficulties to them, it would also keep
their savage enemies in their lodges.

"The line that shut us in in the autumn has thinned out and gone!"
exclaimed Robert in sanguine tones, "and we'll have a clear path from
here to the lake!"

Then they rolled stones, as they had planned, before the door to their
home, closing it wholly except a few square inches at the top, and
ascended on their snowshoes to the crest of the ridge.

"Our cave will not be disturbed, at least not this winter," said
Tayoga confidently. "The bears that sleep below are, as I told you,
the silent sentinels, and they will guard it for us until we come
again."

"At least, they brought us good luck," said Robert. Then, with long,
gliding strokes they passed over the ridge, and their happy valley was
lost to sight. They did not speak again for hours, Tayoga leading the
way, and each bending somewhat to his task, which was by no means
a light one, owing to the weight they carried, and the extremely
mountainous nature of the country. The wilderness was still and
intensely cold. The deep snow was covered by a crust of ice, and,
despite vigorous exertion and warm clothing, they were none too warm.

By noon Robert's ankle, not thoroughly hardened to the snowshoes,
began to chafe, and they stopped to rest in a dense grove, where the
searching north wind was turned aside from them. They were traveling
by the sun for the south end of Lake George, but as they were in the
vast plexus of mountains, where their speed could not be great, even
under the best of conditions, they calculated that they would be many
days and nights on the way.

They stayed fully an hour in the shelter of the trees, and an hour
later came to a frozen lake over which the traveling was easy, but
after they had passed it they entered a land of close thickets, in
which their progress was extremely slow. At night, the cold was very
great, but, as they scooped out a deep hollow in the snow, though they
attempted no fire, they were able to keep warm within their bearskins.
A second and a third day passed in like fashion, and their progress to
the south was unimpeded, though slow. They beheld no signs of human
life save their own, but invariably in the night, and often in the
day, they