,
and the mosquitoes gave way only when the frost made slumber
difficult. In the morning they awoke to the necessity of putting on
their wet shoes, and taking the muddy trail, to travel as long as
they could stagger forward.

In addition to all this, they had no maps, and knew nothing of their
whereabouts or how far it was to a human habitation. Their only
comfort lay in the passing of outfits like mine. From such as I, they
"rustled food" and clothing. The small man did not even thank us for
the meal; he sat himself down for a smoke and communed with his
stomach. The tall man was plainly worsted. His voice had a plaintive
droop. His shoe gnawed into his foot, and his pack was visibly
heavier than that of his companion.

We were two weeks behind our schedule, and our own flour sack was not
much bigger than a sachet-bag, but we gave them some rice and part of
our beans and oatmeal, and they moved away.

We were approaching sea-level, following the Bulkley, which flows in
a northwesterly direction and enters the great Skeena River at right
angles, just below its three forks. Each hour the peaks seemed to
assemble and uplift. The days were at their maximum, the sun set
shortly after eight, but it was light until nearly eleven. At midday
the sun was fairly hot, but the wind swept down from the mountains
cool and refreshing. I shall not soon forget those radiant meadows,
over which the far mountains blazed in almost intolerable splendor;
it was too perfect to endure. Like the light of the sun lingering on
the high peaks with most magical beauty, it passed away to be seen no
more.

In the midst of these grandeurs we lost one of our horses. Whenever a
horse breaks away from his fellows on the trail, it is pretty safe to
infer he has "hit the back track." As I went out to round up the
horses, "Major Grunt" was nowhere to be found. He had strayed from
the bunch and we inferred had started back over the trail. We trailed
him till we met one of the trampers, who assured us that no horse had
passed him in the night, for he had been camped within six feet of
the path.

Up to this time there had been no returning footsteps, and it was
easy to follow the horse so long as he kept to the trail, but the
tramper's report was positive--no horse had passed him. We turned
back and began searching the thickets around the camp.

We toiled all day, not merely because the horse was exceedingly
valuable to us, but also for the reason tha