He thought of Mary with almost a touch of impatience.

What did the woman want that was so necessary as to send a man to town after a day on the ice?
Jimmy would be dog tired when he got home.

Dannie decided to hurry, and do the feeding and get in the wood before he began to skin the rats.
He found walking uncertain.

He plunged into unsuspected hollows, and waded drifts, so that he was panting when he reached the lane.

From there he caught the gray curl of smoke against the sky from one of two log cabins side by side at the top of the embankment, and he almost ran toward them.