[Illustration:  The trail had grown exceedingly rough]

It did not take them ten minutes to do it all, but Allan was obliged to remove his gloves, and one of his hands became frost-bitten, and almost useless for a time.  He put Jemima, who had gone slightly lame, into the sled with her friend, and tucked the warm rugs about them both; while the boy insisted upon perching lightly on the side that he might be ready to give instant assistance if necessary.  The dog was resentful against the enforced ease, however, for she was not at all ready, in spite of pain, to give up her work.

In answer to the solicitous questions as to how she was standing it all, there came from the numb and bleeding lips of the Woman, through an ice encrusted veil, a reply that was something between a groan and a sob.  In faltering tones she declared herself “perfectly comfortable; found the scenery glorious, and simply loved traveling by dog team.”  Had Baldy understood this assurance of a “delightful ride,” and had he seen Jemima’s strenuous resistance against what was necessary for her well-being, it might have seemed to him proof positive of the existence of certain traits characteristically feminine.

Kid, who was no respecter of the elements, much less of people, and whose one rule of life appeared to be “Get There, and Get There First,” dashed up those slippery barriers to find a sheer drop of five feet or more on the other side, down which he would take team and sled.

The cold had become still more intense, and the thermometer they carried registered thirty degrees below zero, with the summit far beyond.  The situation was serious, and “Scotty” felt that their best chance for safety lay in the speed with which they could cross the Divide, and reach the open country; for there the trail led over the flats, and there were not the menacing precipices, that could not now be seen through a dense fall of eddying snow.

The way had been completely obliterated, and even Kid had paused, confused, and for once uncertain of the next move.  “Scotty” called the boy to the handle-bars.  “Stand on the brake, Ben, and shout to Kid if he should start after me.  He may hear you even above the storm.  I’ll have to go on to see if I cannot locate some sort of a trail.”  He lowered his voice.  “This is the worst place in the Sawtooth Range to be caught, and I’ll have to depend upon you to do a man’s work.  Losing the way now would be a desperate matter, but of course we must not let her know how desperate,” with a gesture toward the sled.

When Allan forged ahead into the thickness of the whirling snow, and disappeared completely, the boy felt a strange dread of the unknown.  There was something appalling in the mighty force of the Arctic blizzard that had fallen full upon them.  Something ghostly in the silent, motionless figure of the Woman, covered as with a pall, by the drifting snow, and in the shadowy string of dogs faintly seen, from time to time, when a rare lull cleared the air to a dim and misty grayness.  Something terrifying in the cruel sting of the bitter wind that cut into the flesh like whip-lashes, and shrieked and howled in its unspent rage over that lonely and desolate mountain fastness.