“Then all I can say,” continued Roger, “is that I hope they’ll run short of fresh meat, and conclude to loiter on the road. If Jasper only discovers a big colony of beaver in a stream, I think he would be tempted to camp near by and start trapping.”
“Yes,” Mayhew remarked, reflectively, between puffs, “he is always talking about beaver pelts, and I have heard him say many times that he never could resist taking the broadtails if given a fair opportunity.”
“Well, we have seen signs of the houses of the little animals several times as we came upon streams that flowed into the river,” said Roger, “so there may be a chance of our coming upon him before another sun goes down.”
The thought appeared to give him satisfaction, and from that time on Dick noticed a difference in Roger’s manner. Only one thing kept cropping up to make him sigh occasionally, and this was the possibility of snow catching them, and in a short time obliterating the trail of the party ahead.
The last thing Roger did, before wrapping himself in his blanket, was to step over to where he could look up at the heavens. The stars were shining peacefully. They did not look unusually bright, which would have been a bad outlook, according to the woodsman’s reckoning of the weather signs. The bank of low-hanging clouds must have remained close along the horizon, or else passed away by some other route, for he now saw no trace of them.
“I really believe it will be all right, Dick,” was his cheerful announcement as he settled down for a good night’s sleep.
Dick did not reply; but, knowing how capricious the weather could prove, he had already made up his mind to be surprised at nothing. Even if he awoke in the morning to find three inches of snow covering the ground, coming so silently they had not known of its fall, he was prepared to take it philosophically. Perhaps, like a wise general, he had already mapped out in his mind just what course they must pursue under such conditions, for Dick Armstrong had always been prone to foresee difficulties, and prepare to meet them as they came.
Roger soon fell asleep. Even his thoughts of the faraway home were of a pleasant nature, and not calculated to keep him awake. Besides, that long day’s tramp over so much rough ground had wearied his muscles, and a languor came upon him shortly after he wrapped his blanket about him.
A root served as a pillow. These hardy sons of the frontier needed no down under their heads as they slept. Privations they had been accustomed to from infancy, and a small amount of comfort usually satisfied them. Doubtless their slumber was all the more sound on that account.
Roger had no means of telling whether one hour or five had crept by, when he was aroused by something that gave him a fierce tug. Instantly he was awake, and, although at first he imagined he must have been dreaming, he changed his mind when he heard a low, snarling sound close to his ears, and felt another of those queer tugs.