"Rock again!" Alton said nothing for a minute, and when he spoke his voice had a curious tone.

"Well," he said gravely, "the rock belongs to this place and we don't, so there's no use kicking, but it would have been convenient if there had been less of it.

Now it's quite possible that a few pounds of grub and a load of blankets may make a big difference before we get home again, and if we can't trail that horse to-morrow you'll go back to Somasco for another one.

We'll cache the load somewhere here and make a big smoke for you at every camping." "That means the loss of a fortnight, anyway," said Seaforth.

"Time is valuable with the winter coming on." Alton nodded.