The subject was discussed for fully an hour, but no satisfactory conclusion was reached, and presently one after another dropped off to sleep; the guide being the last to lie down, after fixing the camp-fire for the night, so that a share of the warmth might drift into the shelter.

On the following day the sun came up bright and clear.  It was still bitterly cold, and they were loath to leave the vicinity of the camp-fire.  But John Barrow urged that they make good use of the clear weather, and so they started up the river as soon as they had disposed of their breakfast of fish and birds.

“To be sure I’ll go along, if I can walk,” was what Jasper Grinder said on being questioned, “I wouldn’t remain behind alone for a fortune, and I am sure I can’t find the Baxter party now.  Please don’t cast me off!  It wouldn’t be human!”

“I believe you’d cast us off, if we were in a similar situation,” was Tom’s comment.  “The way you treated Sam at the Hall shows that you don’t care how some folks suffer.  But you can go along, for we are not brutes.  But you’ve got to be careful how you behave, or otherwise out you go, to shift for yourself, no matter how cold it is or how many wild animals are around.”

“I will do nothing that does not meet with the approval of all of you,” answered the former teacher humbly.  “And remember, Thomas, I was willing to aid you when you were a prisoner in the cave in the gully.”

“You were—­for a big consideration,” returned Tom dryly.  “Let me tell you flatly, I don’t take much stock in your so-called generosity.”

They were soon on the way, straight down to the river and then up that stream.  John Barrow was in the lead, with Sam following.  Jasper came next, and Tom and Dick brought up the rear.  As far as possible the guide sought out a trail along the timber, where the snow was not so deep.  Here and there were bare spots, but at other places were deep drifts, where they frequently got in up to their armpits.

“This is no joke!” gasped Sam, after floundering through an extra deep drift.  “I thought I was going out of sight that time.”

“I trust we haven’t much further to go,” was Jasper Grinder’s comment.  “I would give a hundred dollars to be back at Timber Run.”

“It’s your own fault you are here,” retorted Sam.

“I might say the same of you,” returned the former teacher sharply.

By noon John Barrow calculated they had covered half the distance to Bear Pond.  A sheltered nook was found between some rocks and trees, and here they set fire to a mass of brushwood, that they might get warm while they rested, and ate the last of the food on hand.  There was no wind, and the sun, shining as brightly as ever, made the surface of the snow glitter like diamonds.

“I hope we find our stores at the cache undisturbed,” said Dick, while resting.  “I am hungry for a change of diet.  As soon as we get there I’m going to make some biscuits and boil some beans.”