see his own
path through the deep snow, winding and zigzagging toward the
northwest. It would wind and zigzag no matter how hard he tried
to go in a straight line, and finally he refused to look back any
more at the disclosure of his weakness.

He sought more trees before the sun went down, as his glass could
no longer be of use without them, but found none. There could be
no fire for him that night, and digging another deep hole in the
snow he slept the darkness through, nevertheless, warmly and
comfortably, like an Eskimo in his ice hut. He did not suffer as
much as he had thought he would from his wet shoes and leggings,
and in the night, wrapped within the blankets they dried on him.

Dick spent the second day in alternate tramps of an hour and
rests of half an hour. He was conscious that he was growing
weaker from this prodigious exertion, but he was not willing to
acknowledge it. In the afternoon he came upon a grove of
cottonwoods and some undergrowth and he tried to kindle a fire,
but the sun was not strong enough for his glass, and, after an
hour's wasted effort, he gave it up, discouraged greatly. Before
night the wind, which had been from the northwest, shifted to the
southwest and became much warmer. By and by it snowed again
heavily and Dick, who could no longer see his mountains, being
afraid that he would wander in the wrong direction, dug another
burrow and went to sleep.

He was awakened by the patter of something warm upon his face,
and found that the day and rain had come together. Dick once
more was struck to the heart with dismay. How could he stand
this and the snow together? The plain would now run rivers of
water and he must trudge through a terrible mire, worse even than
the snow.

He imagined that he could see his mountains through the rain
sheets, and he resumed his march, making no effort now to keep
anything but his rifle and ammunition dry. He crossed more than
one brook, either permanent or made by the rain and melting snow,
and sloshed though the water, ankle deep, but paid no attention
to it. He walked with intervals of rest all through the day and
the night, and the warm rain never ceased. The snow melted at a
prodigious rate, and Dick thought several times in the night that
he heard the sound of plunging waters. These must be cataracts
from the snow and rain, and he was convinced that he was near the
mountains.

The day came again, the rain ceased, the sun spran