So I ran ahead, calling him in as gruff a voice as I could command to
come on and stop his nonsense, for we had far to go and it would soon be
dark. Neither of us feared another trial like this. Heaven would surely
count one enough for a lifetime. The ice ahead was gashed by thousands
of crevasses, but they were common ones. The joy of deliverance burned
in us like fire, and we ran without fatigue, every muscle with immense
rebound glorying in its strength. Stickeen flew across everything in his
way, and not till dark did he settle into his normal fox-like trot. At
last the cloudy mountains came in sight, and we soon felt the solid rock
beneath our feet, and were safe. Then came weakness. Danger had
vanished, and so had our strength. We tottered down the lateral moraine
in the dark, over boulders and tree trunks, through the bushes and
devil-club thickets of the grove where we had sheltered ourselves in the
morning, and across the level mud-slope of the terminal moraine. We
reached camp about ten o'clock, and found a big fire and a big supper. A
party of Hoona Indians had visited Mr.
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