All the season Radway had contended with this condition.

Even in the woods, muddy swamp and spring-holes caused endless difficulty and necessitated a great deal of "corduroying," or the laying of poles side by side to form an artificial bottom.

Here in the open some six inches of water and unlimited mud awaited the first horse that should break through the layer of snow and thin ice.

Between each pair of islands a road had to be "tramped." Thorpe and the rest were put at this disagreeable job.

All day long they had to walk mechanically back and forth on diagonals between the marks set by Radway with his snowshoes.