We were nineteen persons in all:  and each of us carried two muskets, a pistol and some pounds of ammunition, besides his share of the provisions.  The only ones more lightly laden were Margit and Captain Wills.  The latter, indeed, could with pain manage to walk at all, and so clogged the pace of the party that we made but eight miles before night-fall, when we halted in an open space, set watches, and passed the night with no more discomfort than came from the severe cold.

In the morning we started early and made a good ten miles before noon.  The Captain now seemed at the end of his powers and we allowed him an hour’s rest while we cleaned our firearms.  Margit gave no sign of fatigue:  but I observed that she walked alone and in silence.  Indeed she had scarcely spoken since our shipwreck.

The ground chosen for our halt lay about mid-way down a stiff slope by which the forest descended to the sea, visible here and there between the stems of the trees below us.  Shortly before two o’clock, when we were preparing to start again, a big stone came crashing down among our stores; and, as we scattered in alarm, two or three others followed.  Looking up, I caught sight of a couple of Indians on the crest of the slope, and fired off my rifle to frighten them.  They desisted at once:  but to prevent further annoyance we made for the crest, where the rocky ground made walking difficult, so that we added but another five miles or so before nightfall.

During this night the wind rose, and at length it blew and snowed so hard as to drive us off the ridge.  Luckily, however, one of the men discovered a shallow cave in the hillside, and here we huddled and continued all the next day and night, waiting for the storm to abate; which no sooner happened than we were assailed again by a perfect bombardment of big stones.  These, however, flew harmlessly over our shelter.

I was dozing at daybreak on the 10th when a seaman named Hogue woke me and called my attention to the Captain.  He was stiff and cold, and had died in the night without complaint and, as far as could be learnt, without sound.  The rain of stones not being resumed with daylight, we left his body in the cave, and pushed on over the snow in sad and sorry condition:  for our provisions now began to run short.

Obed assumed the lead, with the consent of all.  Once or twice in the course of the morning I observed him to pause, as if listening.  The cause of this became apparent at about one in the afternoon, when I, too, heard the sound of running water:  and an hour later we halted on the edge of a broad valley, with a swift stream running through it, black between banks of snow, and on the near bank a few huts and a crowd of three hundred Indians at least.