346 JOURNEY TO THE SHORES 



want of the small fire, that we usually made in 

 the mornings to warm our fingers, a very long 

 time was spent in making up our bundles. 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 even- 

 ing. 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. This night we had 

 plenty of dry wood. 



On the 29th we had clear and fine weather. 

 We set out at sunrise, and hurried on in our 

 anxiety to reach the house, but our progress was 

 much impeded by the great depth of the snow in 

 the valleys. Although every spot of ground over 



