istent, chilling his hands and
gradually whitening the earth, until it was a gleaming floor
under a pall of darkness.

Dick was in dismay. Here was a foe that he could not fight with
rifle balls. He knew that the heavy clouds would continue to
pour forth snow, and the day, which he thought was not far away,
would disclose as little as the night. The white pall would hide
the mountains as well as the black pall had done, and he might be
going farther and father from his valley.

He felt that he had been released from one danger and then
another, only to encounter a third. It seemed to him, in his
minute of despair, that Fate had resolved to defeat all his
efforts, but, the minute over, he renewed his courage and trudged
bravely on, he knew not whither. It was fortunate for him that
he wore a pair of the heavy shoes saved from the wagon, and put
on for just such a journey as this. The wet from the snow would
have soon soaked though his moccasins, but, as his thick deerskin
leggings fitted well over his shoes, he kept dry, and that was a
comfort.

The snow came down without wind and fuss, but more heavily than
ever, persistent, unceasing, and sure of victory. It was not
particularly cold, and the walking kept up a warm and pleasant
circulation in Dick's veins. But he knew that he must not stop.
Whether he was going on in a straight line he had no way to
determine. He had often heard that men, lost on the plains, soon
begin to travel in a circle, and he watched awhile for his own
tracks; but if they were there, they were covered up by snow too
soon for him to see, and, after all, what did it matter?

He saw after a while a pallid yellowish light showing dimly
through the snow, and he knew that it was the sunrise. But it
illuminated nothing. The white gloom began to replace the black
one. It was soon full day, but the snow was so thick that he
could not see more than two or three hundred yards in any
direction. He longed now for shelter, some kind of hollow, or
perhaps a lone tree. The incessant fall of the snow upon his
head and its incessant clogging under his feet were tiring him,
but he only trod a plain, naked save for its blanket of snow.

Dick had been careful to keep his rifle dry, putting the barrel
of it under his long deerskin coat. Once as he shifted it, he
felt a lump over his chest, and for an instant or two did not
know what caused it. Then he remember the history and geography
of the