In the high, bright sunlight their fears seemed absurd to the two armed men, accustomed as they were, through long years of lonely wandering in the wilderness to face every kind of danger from man, brute, or element.
There were still three beaver traps to collect from a little pond in a wide ravine near by.

Bauman volunteered to gather these and bring them in, while his companion went ahead to camp and make ready the packs.
On reaching the pond Bauman found three beaver in the traps, one of which had been pulled loose and carried into a beaver house.

He took several hours in securing and preparing the beaver, and when he started homewards he marked with some uneasiness how low the sun was getting.
As he hurried towards camp, under the tall trees, the silence and desolation of the forest weighed on him.

His feet made no sound on the pine needles, and the slanting sun rays, striking through among the straight trunks, made a gray twilight in which objects at a distance glimmered indistinctly.

There was nothing to break the ghostly stillness which, when there is no breeze, always broods over these sombre primeval forests.
At last he came to the edge of the little glade where the camp lay, and shouted as he approached it, but got no answer.