Long before dawn the girls awoke to face a new day and a new, unknown peril. The forest, stretching out black and somber against the white foreground of snow, seemed a great menacing hand, reaching out to seize their precious possession. They could not know what perils awaited them in the forest.
With breakfast over, the tents struck, sled-deer harnessed and hitched to the sled, and everything in readiness for the continuing of the race to Fort Jarvis, the girls climbed the nearest hill, hoping that they might catch some glimpse of the country beyond the forest.
Their hopes were vain. Far as eye could see, the forest stretched before them. They could only guess the miles they must travel before coming again to rolling hills and level tundra. They were traveling over a region of the great Northland which had never really been explored. No accurate maps showed where rivers ran or forests spread out over the plains.
Standing there, looking at the great forest, Patsy quoted:
“‘This the forest primeval;
The murmuring pines and the hemlocks
Stand like Druids of old
With beards that rest on their bosom.’
“And, with two Eskimos for companions, we are to enter that forest. Only wild people, and wilder caribou and wolves, have been there before us. Oh, Marian! We are explorers! We really, truly are! Isn’t it gran-n-d!”
Marian did not answer. There was a puzzled look on her face as she stared away toward the north. Out of the very clouds faint images appeared to be marching. Yes, yes, now they became clearer. Reindeer—a whole herd of them. What could it mean? Was this a vision? Was she “seeing things,” or was it possible that much higher hills lay over there and that the reindeer were crossing them?