be crossed; and even though I reached its bottom there
seemed to be no possible way up the precipitous farther wall.

I did, however, make the homeward side of the canyon very late. The
clouds had shut down over the peaks, leveling their tops to timberline.
All day I had carried the heavy camera with a supply of glass plates.
Besides I carried my six-shooter, with belt and cartridges, buckled
around my waist. Several times I saw grouse and fired at them, but not
once did I get a close-up shot.

As I toiled upward to cross the ridge that overlooked camp, I entered
the lower cloud stratum. The air was biting cold. It was impossible
to see more than a few feet ahead. I regretted that I had brought no
food. Snow began to fall; and the higher I plodded the thicker it
fell. Darkness came rapidly; footing became precarious. The snow
plastered the rocks; the light was ghostly and unreal. I began to
stumble; I slipped and slid, lost my balance, and fell.

Then, as the snow deepened and the darkness increased, I realized that
to attempt the descent of the slope above camp would be folly, for it
was as steep as a house roof, and covered with loose bowlders. Besides
it had many abrupt cliffs fifty to a hundred feet high. There was only
one thing to do--camp here, for the night. But I was on an exposed
shoulder of the mountain, above timberline, and it would be impossible
to live through the night without shelter and fire.

I headed downhill without regard for direction. I was becoming numb,
but in half an hour I safely reached the dwarf trees at timberline and
plunged through them to a dense grove of spruce. Occasionally there
was a dead tree, and nearly all trees had dead limbs low down. With
such limbs or small trunks as I could find I constructed a rude
lean-to, with closed ends. With my pocket knife I cut green boughs,
covered the lean-to and plastered the boughs with a coating of wet
snow. The green branches, together with the snow that was streaming
down like a waterfall, soon rendered the shelter windproof.

With a glowing fire in front to light my way, I ranged in ever-widening
circles for fuel to last through the long night ahead. Within an hour
I had collected a fair-sized pile of wood, but I thought I'd better
have even more. My quest took me farther among the trees. Of a sudden
there came a whirr of wings that made me jump and drop my load, as a
number of grouse flew in all directions, their boo