night, with no food or blankets," he said; and the doctor nodded gravely.
"They're likely to perish, on that open prairie," he agreed. "But what's to be done? To search for them would be a fruitless risk, lieutenant."
The lieutenant sat up late, waiting for word from them. This morning they had appeared, Jake Carter with his feet, also, frozen. It had been a terrible night, for them. They had found the horse, but could not bring him in.
So the lieutenant had directed Alex Roy and William Gordon to ride and get the horse (which was almost frozen, itself, the other men had reported); and he and the doctor, with Stub and John Sparks, went out to scout. The lieutenant and the doctor measured the height of the Grand Peak, from a distance; they and John killed two buffalo-bulls, for moccasins for the camp, and took after a cow but didn't get it.
The gritty John Sparks stayed, to kill a cow if he might; the other three returned to camp with the bull hides.
Now the men, with numbed fingers, were busy making moccasins, around the fire, and not envying John the buffalo-hunter.
Alex Roy and Bill Gordon came in, with the
