ve him to his fate!"

"'Tain't likely he's in any real danger," said Joshua, almost believing
his own statement. "If it was one of you two, now, I'd feel more
alarmed. But Mr. Crane,--he's got a head on him, and a compass, and he
knows the route we're taking,--he went over it with me before we
started. Lord knows I'd be the first one to go to his rescue, if it was
rescue he needed, but I don't think it is."

"Rescue or not," said Blair, "I will not go on without Peter. You two do
what you like. I'm going to turn back and hunt for him."

"So am I," declared Shelby, and the two turned to face the backward
trail.

"All foolishness," muttered Joshua, "but of course, I'll go along."

It was all foolishness, there was no doubt of that. The snow had covered
all signs of their own tracks, there was no road to follow, no landmarks
to go by. Though Joshua had pursued his route by compass, he could not
retrace it surely enough to find a lost man.

However, they persisted; they dashed at snow-covered mounds only to find
them hummocks or rocks. They hallooed and shouted; they stared into the
snowy distance, hoping to discern smoke; but though their big, strong
Peter was less than half a mile away from them, they could get no hint
of his presence.

Night came on. They built their camp fire of enormous dimensions, hoping
against hope that it might attract the lost man.

None slept, save for a few fitful dozes from sheer exhaustion and grief.
Joshua stolidly insisted that Peter was undoubtedly all right, and
though they could scarcely believe it, this comforted the other two.

Next morning they held council. Joshua was all for going on and giving
up the search for Crane.

Blair, too, felt it a useless waste of time to remain, but Shelby begged
for a few hours.

"If the storm abates just a little----" he began.

"It won't," declared Joshua. "It's a little mite less windy but this
snowfall's only just begun. It won't quit for days,--lessen it turns to
rain,--and then the goin''ll be a heap worse."

It didn't seem as if the going could be much worse. Already the men had
difficulty in moving because of their wet, half-frozen clothing.
Available wood was buried under the snow, their strength was becoming
impaired, and all things pointed to even worse weather conditions.

Reluctantly Shelby and Blair agreed to Joshua's plans, realizing that
Peter might be all right and on his homeward journey, and further delay
might result