Then his eyes scanned the floor.

The key was gleaming where it had fallen, and with an exclamation of relief the Missioner snatched it up.
"I thought I had lost my key," he laughed, a bit nervously; then he added, with a deep breath: "It's snowing to-night.

A heavy snow, and there will be good sledging for a few days.

God knows I don't want you to leave me, but if it must be--we should take advantage of this snow.
It will be the last.

Mukoki and I will go with you as far as the Reindeer Lake country, two hundred miles northwest.