thing."

Seaforth said nothing further. He knew his comrade too well, and could
picture him clinging by hand and heel as he crawled along the brink of
the declivity with the lake below, and gasped from relief when once
more a dim whitened object lurched up out of the snow.

"Got them all," said Alton cheerfully. "That last one was just on the
edge, and it took some thinking before I could get at it. Still, I
guessed it was some kind of dress stuff for the girl, and if we lost it
it might be a long while before she got another."

They relashed the packages and went on again, floundering through
steadily deepening snow, until once more the roar of water met them as
they dipped into a hollow. It grew louder rapidly, and presently Alton
pulled the Cayuse up on the brink of a river. It came down frothing
out of a haze of sliding snow, tumbling with a hoarse growl about the
great dim boulders, whirled and tossed in a white confusion down the
wild race of a rapid, and was lost again. How far the other bank was
there was nothing to show, for even the scattered pines behind the men
were hidden now, and Seaforth stared at the tumult of froth before him
very dubiously.

"She's pretty full to-night," he said. "It has got to be attempted,
but I'm not quite sure how we're going through."

Alton laughed a little, and brought his hand down on the Cayuse pony's
flank. "Well, if you'll come along behind me you will see," said he.

Seaforth was waist-deep next minute, and the water was horribly cold.