This task fell to Hepburn's share as I suffered so much from the cold as to be unable to take my hands out of my mittens.

We kept a straight course for the Dog-Rib Rock but, owing to the depth of the snow in the valleys we had to cross, did not reach it until late in the afternoon.

We would have encamped but did not like to pass a second night without fire and, though scarcely able to drag our limbs after us, we pushed on to a clump of pines about a mile to the southward of the rock and arrived at them in the dusk of the evening.

During the last few hundred yards of our march our track lay over some large stones amongst which I fell down upwards of twenty times, and became at length so exhausted that I was unable to stand.

If Hepburn had not exerted himself far beyond his strength and speedily made the encampment and kindled a fire, I must have perished on the spot.