breakfast cooked and eaten, John and Hugh were on the road to the summit. They were

already upon the mount

t; good thing we've got some dry socks and rubbers in our outfit at the summit. Another thing is, we're going to meet

ey could see the toilers coming, winding i

m all sides, made the use of smoke-glasses necessary; but the perspiration, dimming the glass, troubled their sight. The end of John

n they arrived there at one o'clock. It was half-past two before they had their feet

er which the trail will be clear, and we should arrive by ten. This trail will be migh

ee miles on the trail. There

h felt his cheek smitten by a gust o

. All we can do is to keep on as we are going, steadily. I guess we shall make Log Cabin, but not with this load. The soft snow makes a thousand pounds too much fo

cutting; then the wind veered, and down ca

re we won't be able to keep the trail in this storm; and if we do come out al

the storm will

under us; but we are liable to get off it-and once lost, there is no finding it again. Mind, the wind is blowing from the right, half to the rear

ed, harness was piled on top of the load. Then, with a great

scratched: "Cached sleigh on north side of trail by spruce tree, five miles from th

w where the grub is, for if we d

leading, and were

weather did not feel cold; in fact, both were comfortably warm. For an hour they plodded along. Occasionally one

e was nothing they could recognize in the boulders and

y plunged into soft snow. The trail seemed to have come to an end; but this could not be so. They retraced their steps and regained fi

ong a bank where the wind has packed the old sno

ve up," s

but we're lost. I won't giv

d we bet

e your hands get numb, or your mind weak. We're up against it hard! We will stay together, of course; but should we get separated, don't move too fast, or you will tire yourself out and go to sleep in the snow. Don't let sleep take hold of you

. It was easy enough to say "keep going down-hill," but, so far as John was concerned, he seeme

, the snowfall growing le

ush of gold-seekers over those terrible mountains and through the stormy passes. If he should die in that storm, and months afterwards she heard of his demise?... The thought drifted along to several loose ends. He must not sleep, or he would die; and it was his duty to live; but-oh! to sleep!... His father, and the

ter, till some blacks found him. He remembered, before going into unconsciousness with his back against a rock, that a

ring sand and heat, while abo

d was beginning to blow! The parka d

lake, with the cliff so steep they could not climb it. They followed the shore to the right, facing the storm. They crossed another lake, an

that they were surely now far from the proper trail, as he could re

that it came from the north. Hugh began now really

ind fell upon them. This new severe onslaught of nature aroused John, who called

it's easier walking

rly dead to notice that the going was good. Suddenly John fell into

" gasped John, with hi

t been on any t

ith you

call to their resources. Meanwhile their tired hearts and very weary bodies endured the bombardmen

en over the surface of the ice, gave a hard, grinding noise

the road. Hugh kicked at it; the singletree rattled; he recog

smelt smoke. Just for a second!-that creosotic odour was to them as

lantern loomed up before th

s the

ost," sa

here on Crater Lake, just ov

God!" s

tent warmed by a tin stove, on which was a pot of coffe

ep. Now that the great struggle against the elements, which force of personalit

at for them, he found Hugh removing his frien

sleep," s

tless. The bustling traffic, the interest of the shops, the passing of the people, could not keep her thought from a far

udden misfortune, and had been prompted by the news from the Klondike also to make a bid for fortune there, not as a gold-see

of restlessness in her blood, was full of hope. The soft air and the sunshine were conditio