their aid to the illumination of the night. Even the cold was less
noticeable than in the afternoon, when the damp wind blew off the
water and the snow was falling so fast.

"It was worth while your being indiscreet for once, seeing that it
has brought us out on a night like this," Miles said, as he
crouched low in the sledge, holding on with both thickly mittened
hands, for Katherine was driving, and the dogs were going with
leaps and bounds, which made the sledge bounce and sway in a very
erratic fashion.

"You won't say the indiscretion was worth while if it turns out
that we are the second arrivals and not the first," Katherine
answered. But her tone was buoyant and hopeful; for she had little
doubt about getting to the scene of her father's accident before
Oily Dave and Stee Jenkin had succeeded in locating the spot.

"Wolves! listen to them!" exclaimed Miles, as a hideous yapping and
howling sounded across the snowy waste.

"They are a good way off though, and I brought a pair Of Father's
revolvers in case of accident," Katherine replied, her heart
beating a little quicker, although in reality she would much rather
have met two or three wolves just then than have encountered Oily
Dave and the man who had wanted to buy the Black Crow tobacco.

"I'm glad you thought to bring them," said Miles. "Nick Jones told
me the wolves are uncommonly hungry for so early in the year, and
they are in great numbers too. He trapped twenty last week."