62 SPORT, TRAVEL, AND ADVENTURE 



silence ; we dreaded the discovery we were about to 

 make. 



' Keep the fire alight as a guide to us, Mac/ I said, 

 and Stewart and I went out into the storm. And now 

 Dave's deep-mouthed barks penetrated the dense mists, 

 and we crawled towards the canon in the direction of 

 the sound ; but we had not far to go. A few yards 

 from our retreat I felt Dave's furry body at my knees, 

 and then my hand came in contact with a human form 

 half -buried in the drifts. 



'It's a man, Stewart/ I said, and he answered with 

 a groan of sympathy. We extricated the stiff, frozen 

 body from the engulfing snow and dragged it tenderly 

 towards the light we had left ; and there, in that 

 miserable spot, we strove to bring back the life that 

 had all but fled. 



4 We have nothing to gie him/ said Mac hopelessly ; 

 ' an' the fire's gone oot.' 



* There should be some coffee/ I answered, ' and the 

 furs and my long boots will burn.' 



Soon our treasured possessions smouldered and 

 flamed ; boots, moccasins, silver-tipped furs all that 

 we had that would simmer or burn was sacrificed, and 

 a piece of ice from the wall was thawed and slowly 

 boiled. When the hot fluid was forced between his 

 lips the rescued man opened his eyes and looked around. 

 Soon he had recovered sufficiently to speak a few words. 

 He had ventured across the Chilcoot, despite all warn- 

 ings from the miners at Sheep Camp. He had wan- 

 dered over Crater Lake all day, not knowing where the 

 valley lay, owing to dense mists prevailing. ' The 

 blizzard has been blowing on the pass for two days/ 

 said he ; ' your light attracted me last, but I could 



