Within a fortnight you'll be travelling twenty miles a day on snow shoes." He suddenly seemed to think of something that he had forgotten and fidgeted with his mittens in his hesitation, as if there lay an unpleasant duty ahead of him.

Then he said: "If there are any letters to write, David ...

any business matters...." "There are no letters," cut in David quickly.

"I attended to my affairs some weeks ago.

I am ready." With a frozen whitefish he returned to Baree.