The grass was white with frost when Miss Foster left the tent in the morning, but a fire of branches crackled cheerfully near-by and Kermode was busy with a frying-pan. A light cloud of smoke rose into the still, cold air, and day was breaking on the eastern horizon.
“This looks pretty good,” he said, taking out a greasy cake and several strips of pork. “If you will make the tea, I’ll water the horse.”
He was back in a few minutes. His companion enjoyed the simple meal, and when it was finished they resumed the march. During most of the day their pathway led over high, treeless ridges which lay in bright sunshine, though a delicate haze dimmed the encircling hills. Then they dipped to a valley where they had trouble among the timber and the girl was forced to dismount. The winter gales had swept the forest and great pines lay piled in belts of tangled ruin, through which Kermode found it difficult to lead the horse, while as they floundered over branches and through crackling brush his companion’s limp grew more pronounced. Afterward there were several rapid creeks to be forded, and Kermode was wet and Miss Foster very tired when they camped at sunset, in a grove of spruce. Little was said during the evening meal and soon after it was over the girl sought her tent, while Kermode found a resting-place among the withered sprays at the foot of a tree.
They spent the next morning toiling up a long ascent, and from its summit a prospect of majestic beauty burst upon them. The great peaks had grown nearer, the air was clear, and the girl sat, rapt, in the saddle, gazing at the vast snow-fields that glittered with ethereal brilliance, very high up against a cloudless sky. Then the wonderful blue coloring of the shadows streaking the white slopes caught her glance, and she found it unutterably lovely. Kermode, however, had an eye for other things and carefully searched the wide valley that stretched away beneath them.
“What are you looking for?” the girl asked at length.
“Smoke; I thought I saw a faint streak, but it has gone. I suppose you didn’t notice it?”
“Oh no!” she told him with a smile. “I’m afraid I shouldn’t have noticed such a commonplace thing, even if it had been very plain.”
He made a sign of comprehension.
“Then what have you seen?” he asked.
“Unapproachable, stainless whiteness, touched with an unearthly glory that daunts the mind!” Then her expression changed. “But the sight is too overpowering to talk about. I would have been more useful had I looked for smoke, as that would mean a house.”