"I--I don't know," gasped Sam. "Some--something struck me on th--the head."

With the a.s.sistance of the old miner and d.i.c.k he arose to his feet, and all three staggered back to where Tom had been left. The ruins of the hut rested against a s...o...b..nk, and, to get out of the wind, they crawled between the logs and the snow.

"This is the worst yet," was d.i.c.k's comment. "How are we ever to find our way back to Dawson from here?"

n.o.body could answer that question. Just now they had all they could do to keep warm.

"You stay here while I take a little look around," said Jack Wumble, presently. "I may learn somethin' wuth knowin'."

"But don't get lost, Jack," cautioned d.i.c.k.

"I'll be careful," was the answer.

The old miner was gone less than ten minutes when he set up a shout.

"What have you found?" asked d.i.c.k, quickly.

"Here's a signboard," was the reply. "I reckon as how there's a trail here. It says somethin', but I can't make it out."

"Let's light a torch," suggested Sam, and this was done. They brushed the snow from the signboard and read the following, printed in crude letters:

10 mILes to Sublers sTORes

Below this lettering was a crude drawing of a hand pointing up the lake.

"Subler's Stores!" cried the old miner. "I've heard o' that place.

It's quite a depot for supplies. If we could only git thar we'd be all right."

"Let's try it," suggested d.i.c.k. "The wind is right down the lake, so it will make traveling that much easier."

They labored hard, in the darkness and wind, to construct a drag out of the ruins of the hut. On this they placed Tom and also such of their scanty traps and provisions as still remained to them.

But once out on the lake, they realized that the task before them was no easy one. Here the wind blew with terrific force, sending them further and further away from the sh.o.r.e which they wanted to skirt. It had stopped snowing and seemed to be growing colder.

"I--I ca--can't stand this!" gasped Sam, after a while. "I'm fr--freezing!"

"So--so am I," answered d.i.c.k. "Tom, are you all right?"

"I'm pretty co--cold," was the chattered-out reply.

"We can't make it, I reckon," said the old miner, who was as chilled as any of them. "We'll have to go ash.o.r.e an' git out of the wind an'

build a fire to thaw out by."

But getting ash.o.r.e was out of the question. When they tried to turn around the fierce wind fairly took their breath away. So they continued to advance, the wind at times carrying them almost off their feet.

"We are on the ice and no mistake!" cried d.i.c.k, after a while. "See, the wind has blown the snow completely away."

He was right. All around them was the ice, dark and exceedingly slippery. They seemed to be in the midst of a great field of it.

"I don't know where I am now," said Jack Wumble. "We are lost."

"Lost!" echoed Sam.

"That's the truth of it, Sam," replied d.i.c.k. "We are lost right out here on this ice."

"But Subler's Stores?"

"I haven't the least idea in what direction they are."

"But if we follow the wind----?"

"The wind seems to be changing. Just watch it."

d.i.c.k was right, the wind was shifting, first in one direction, then in another.

"If we stay out here, we'll be frozen stiff," said Tom. As he could not move around he felt the cold more than did the others.

"Let us follow the wind--it is bound to bring us somewhere, and that is better than staying here," said d.i.c.k, finally.

For the want of something better to suggest, the others agreed, and on they went once more, dragging Tom and their few traps and stores behind them.

Thus another hour pa.s.sed. By this time they were so exhausted they could scarcely stand. They staggered onward until Sam fell. He was so weak the others had to a.s.sist him to arise.

"I'm all in!" gasped the youngest Rover. "You go on and save yourselves."

"And leave you?" cried d.i.c.k. "Never! Sam, you know me better than that," he added, reproachfully.

"But, d.i.c.k, I--I can't walk another step!"

"Then sit on the drag with Tom."

"But you and Wumble----"

"We'll pull ye somehow," said the old miner, grimly. "We ought to be gittin' somewhar soon."

It was now dark once more and snowing again. The wind had gone down a trifle, but it still carried them forward, first in one direction and then another.

Presently the drag hit a series of rocks, covered with ice and snow.

Over it went, sending Tom and Sam sprawling. d.i.c.k and Wumble also fell, for the way had suddenly grown uneven.

"I think we are near the sh.o.r.e now," said Wumble. "Them rocks wouldn't be likely to be out in the middle o' the lake."

"I think I see something!" cried d.i.c.k. "Over yonder."

With caution they advanced, and at last made out a small building, located between a number of large rocks. All around the building was snow and ice.

"A light!" cried Jack Wumble. "Somebody is thar! This is the best news yet."