152 



Wf/s ffiat Cross 



_s 



" Mitcheegeesopkh, the storm ! " said Noel 

 sharply ; and without another word they 

 turned and hurried back on their own trail. 

 In a short half-hour the world would be 

 swallowed up in chaos. To be caught out 

 on the barrens meant to be lost ; and to 

 be lost here without fire and shelter meant 

 death, swift and sure. So they ran on, hop- 

 ing to strike the woods before the blizzard 

 burst upon them. 



They were scarcely half-way to shelter 

 when the white flakes began to whirl around 

 them. With startling, terrible swiftness the 

 familiar world vanished ; the guiding trail 

 was blotted out, and nothing but a wolf's 

 instinct could have held a straight course 

 in the blinding fury of the storm. Still they 

 held on bravely, trying in vain to keep their 

 direction by the eddying winds, till Mooka 

 stumbled twice at the same hollow over a 

 hidden brook, and they knew they were run- 

 ning blindly in a circle of death. Frightened 

 at the discovery they turned, as the caribou 

 do, keeping their backs steadily to the winds, 

 and drifted slowly away down the long barren. 



