"Eagle Rock, Harry. See!" and he pointed with a quivering finger to the spectral appearance. "Once we make that, I can find the road all right enough. Come along!"
Cheered by the sight, which the next moment the snow-curtain again hid from them, they pushed forward with renewed energy.
It was terribly hard walking. Their snow-shoes sank deep into the drifts at every step, and it was an effort each time to release them. The afternoon was also waning fast, and they had not more than an hour of daylight left at best. Truly they were in desperate straits.
On they went over the drifts that seemed to be determined to bar their way, the superintendent straining his eyes for another glimpse of Eagle Rock. At last, as Harry was about once more to cry halt, his companion exclaimed joyfully,—
"There's Eagle Rock, Harry! I see it. We're making straight for it. A few minutes more will take us there."
The cheering announcement revived the boy's failing energies for another effort. He shut his lips upon the request for a rest, and doggedly tramped on after his guide.
Ten minutes more and they were at the foot of the lofty crag called Eagle Rock, in a friendly recess of which they found welcome shelter from the furious wind.
"Thank goodness!" ejaculated Harry, throwing himself wearily down upon a snow-bank, "we've got thus far anyway. How many miles more, Mr. Maynard?"
"About ten, Harry," was the answer, given in quite a matter-of-fact tone.
"Ten!" echoed Harry in dismay. "I hoped it would only be about five. I'll never do it in the world."