The trail was plainly marked, the prints of snow-shoes showing clearly in the well packed snow.
They were hauling the toboggan tandem-wise and hardly were aware of its weight. It was splendid traveling, as there had been no snow for several days and their snow-shoes made but little impression. At eleven o’clock they had reached the upper end of the lake and decided to eat dinner before striking into the dense woods which lined the edge. They had made fast time but they well knew that from now on their progress would be much slower. Drawing a toboggan over the smooth surface of a lake is quite a different matter from pulling it through the thick forest where every foot of the way must be chosen with care. They decided to save time by eating a cold lunch, waiting until night for their cooked meal, and in less than twenty minutes they were on the trail once more.
While they were eating Bob had noticed for the first time that the sun was no longer bright, and as they entered the woods he called Jack’s attention to it.
“If I’m any good as a weather prophet we’re going to get some snow before night,” he said as he cast an anxious eye upward.
“What can’t be cured must be endured,” Jack quoted gaily, carefully picking his way between the massive trees.
Not only were the trees very close together, but the ground was uneven and it was, as Bob declared “all up hill and down dale.” But it was no new experience to them and they knew what to expect, so for two hours or more they pushed forward in good spirits.
“He’s heading a bit to the west of north,” Bob declared, as they stopped for a brief breathing spell. “I don’t understand it, as the farther he goes to the west the farther he’ll have to hike before he strikes the border.”
“I wonder if he knows enough to keep a straight course through the woods. A man’s got to know something about it to be able to do it, you know,” Jack declared, as he picked up the rope and started off again.
“That wind sounds like snow,” Bob asserted, as he fell in behind.
The wind, which for the last hour had been increasing in strength, was coming from the northeast, an almost certain forerunner of a storm at that time of year. So well protected were they by the thickness of the trees they hardly felt its force, but they were too wise to be deceived by that, as the sound, as it swept through the tops, told them that it was already blowing a fair sized gale. And now a few flakes began to sift lazily down through the thick branches.