Twice he blundered to the edge of this timber, but quickly set his course again in the open, with the wind always quartering at his back.

He could only guess how long he kept on.

The time came when he began to count the swing of his snowshoes, measuring off half a mile, or a mile, and then beginning over again until at last the achievement of five hundred steps seemed to take an immeasurable length of time and great effort.

Like the ache of a tooth came the first warning of snowshoe cramp in his legs.

In the black night he grinned.