"Well, Bill, any news?" asked McShay quietly.
"Yes, Rough-house Joe's got in, but he's in awful bad shape, frost-bitten, starving; never will git over it, I guess."
"And the supplies? What about the supplies?"
"Lost!"
"Lost?" and Mike indulged in a low, long whistle.
"Snowslide comin' through Dead Man's Canyon. As far as he knows, Joe's the only one of the party left."
"Gee, that's tough, ain't it?" said McShay quietly.
"The stuff you brought in, Mike, is gone, and we're up against it." Bill referred to the former visit of McShay's in which he had brought a wagon-load of supplies.
"We got to git in touch with somewhere or starve."
Both men realized that help from without was unlikely as no one would know of their necessities. It would be natural to suppose that the supplies lost in Dead Man's Canyon had reached their destination. The situation was serious.