yment. We had set ourselves
grimly to the task of bringing our horses through alive. We no longer
rode, we toiled in silence, leading our saddle-horses on which we
had packed a part of our outfit to relieve the sick and starving
packhorses.

On the fourth day we took a westward shoot from the river, and
following the course of a small stream again climbed heavily up the
slope. Our horses were now so weak we could only climb a few rods at
a time without rest. But at last, just as night began to fall, we
came upon a splendid patch of bluejoint, knee-deep and rich. It was
high on the mountain side, on a slope so steep that the horses could
not lie down, so steep that it was almost impossible to set our tent.
We could not persuade ourselves to pass it, however, and so made the
best of it. Everywhere we could see white mountains, to the south, to
the west, to the east.

"Now we have left the Skeena Valley," said Burton.

"Yes, we have seen the last of the Skeena," I replied, "and I'm glad
of it. I never want to see that gray-green flood again."

A part of the time that evening we spent in picking the thorns of
devil's-club out of our hands. This strange plant I had not seen
before, and do not care to see it again. In plunging through the
mudholes we spasmodically clutched these spiny things. Ladrone nipped
steadily at the bunch of leaves which grew at the top of the twisted
stalk. Again we plunged down into the cold green forest, following a
stream whose current ran to the northeast. This brought us once again
to the bank of the dreaded Skeena. The trail was "punishing," and the
horses plunged and lunged all day through the mud, over logs, stones,
and roots. Our nerves quivered with the torture of piloting our
mistrusted desperate horses through these awful pitfalls. We were
still in the region of ferns and devil's-club.

We allowed no feed to escape us. At any hour of the day, whenever we
found a bunch of grass, no matter if it were not bigger than a broom,
we stopped for the horses to graze it and so we kept them on their
feet.

At five o'clock in the afternoon we climbed to a low, marshy lake
where an Indian hunter was camped. He said we would find feed on
another lake some miles up, and we pushed on, wallowing through mud
and water of innumerable streams, each moment in danger of leaving a
horse behind. I walked nearly all day, for it was torture to me as
well as to Ladrone to ride him over such a trail. Three of