But early that night the teamster, Lufkins, was startled by the
neighing of a horse, and when he came to the stable, there was the
half-blinded animal on which old Jim and tiny Skeezucks had ridden away
in the morning--the empty saddle still upon his back.
CHAPTER XXI
A BED IN THE SNOW
The great stout ore-wagons stood in the snow that lay on the Borealis
street, with never a horse or a mule to keep them company. Not an
animal fit to bear a man had been left in the camp. But the twenty men
who rode far off in the white desolation out beyond were losing hope as
they searched and searched in the drifts and mounds that lay so deep
upon the earth.
By feeble lantern glows at first, and later by the cold, gray light of
dawn, they scanned the road and the country for miles and miles. It
was five o'clock, and six in the morning, and still the scattered
company of men and horses pushed onward through the snow.
The quest became one of dread. They almost feared to find the little
group. The wind had ceased to blow, but the air was cold. Gray
ribbons of cloud were stretched across the sky. Desolation was
everywhere--in the heavens, on the plain, on the distant mountains.
All the world was snow, dotted only where the mounted men made
insignificant spots against the waste of white.
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