thought him discouraged—and little wonder. "We'll have to keep lower down, and try elsewhere."
"To the famine country of the open bottoms," he said. Were they never to get across these Great White Mountains, which faced them unending? Were they to die in the snow, just for the sake of hunting the Red River? John Brown, near the head of the column, broke restraint again and exclaimed roundly:
"I say, it's more than flesh an' blood can bear, to march three days with not a mouthful of food, through snow three feet deep, an' carry loads only fit for hosses!"
Everybody heard. Sergeant Meek turned on him angrily. Had the lieutenant heard also? No? Yes! He had paused for an instant, as if to reply; then without another sign he had proceeded.
"You'll be called to answer for this, Brown," warned the sergeant.
John muttered to himself, and a silence fell upon the file. Stooped and unsteady under their own loads, the lieutenant and the doctor doggedly continued, breaking the trail on course obliquing for the lower country. The others followed, breathing hard.
The lieutenant and the doctor had struck down a shallow draw. Issuing from the end of it, they
