A cold wind swept between the thin spruce trunks that loomed vaguely out of the surrounding gloom as the red glare leaped up, and wisps of acrid smoke drifted about the camp.

There was a lake up the hollow, and now and then the wild and mournful cry of a loon rang out.

The men were tired and somewhat dejected as they sat about the blaze with their damp blankets round them.

A silence had fallen upon them; but suddenly Blake looked up, startled.
"What was that ?" he exclaimed.
The others could hear nothing but the sound of running water and the wail of the wind.

Since leaving the Indians they had seen no sign of life and believed that they were crossing uninhabited wilds.