Toto stood up and shook himself, trotted a few paces away and came back to look at her.
“Do you suppose you could find the way home?” she asked with a half smile. “You’re too much of a puppy to have much sense of direction yet, but we’ll try it. Which way do you want to go, Toto?”
The dog immediately trotted a few paces toward the north and stood waiting for her to follow him.
“All right,” she agreed. “We’ll go that way and I hope you are right!”
Gale walked along swiftly to keep the dog in sight. But soon she had to slacken her pace. She was tired, they had come far, and now she found it almost impossible to keep up a fast gait. Too, it was getting darker. The Canadian night was closing in upon them rapidly. She thought of Antoinette and François waiting, watching for her and scolded herself for ever coming so far. She thought of the warm supper awaiting them, of the warm bed which would feel so good now, and lashed herself on to a renewed pace. But it was hopeless. When it was so dark she could not see Toto ahead of her she halted and called the dog to her. She picked him up in her arms, she didn’t intend to lose her one companion in the wilderness. His rough, red tongue licked her chin affectionately and she almost dropped him.
“Toto, you are even a worse direction-picker than I am,” she declared, squeezing him. “We are really lost this time!”
Toto didn’t seem to mind. He snuggled down in her arms, even trying to get his head into her jacket pocket.
Gale grasped him more firmly and started to walk again. She didn’t know where or in what direction she was walking, she only knew she must keep in motion to keep the biting cold air from freezing her limbs. Then, too, sooner or later she must come to some house! She had a faint idea she was walking in the direction of the little village to which Antoinette had taken her. From there certainly she could find her way home.
The dog in her arms became heavier and heavier as Gale became more and more tired. It seemed almost impossible to carry him a step farther. She leaned against a tree and deposited him in the snow at its base. Toto protested with a grunt at being roused from his warm nap and hovered about her feet shivering.
“This is a nice mess,” Gale said in disgust. “Why did you let me come so far, Toto?”