her to sit up, told her she had practically walked herself out, and had got to take it easy), that he explained to her their predicament. It had taken him, it seemed, almost two hours to locate this small cottage and carry her to it. In the meanwhile it had begun to snow. The wind was in the northeast. It would be unwise to attempt to find the way down the mountainside at night in a snowstorm, under any circumstances. As far as he could see, the members of the Bartlett party would have no reason to suspect that he and Miss Miller had not arrived safely at the hotel, and certainly there was no one at the hotel to suppose that any of the climbers had decided to turn back.
So there they were! But there was some food left from the supply he had brought, and he had discovered in the pantry of the cottage a can of tea, a package of cereal, a small bucket of flour, and actually several cans of condensed cream. They needn't starve. As soon as the others returned to the hotel, which according to the original plan ought to be the next night, a searching party, doubtless, would be sent out, if, in the meanwhile, the storm had not cleared sufficiently for him to reach the road at the foot of the mountain, and the farmhouse a mile or two farther on.
"The chief difficulty," he said, "is that ankle of yours. It ought to be fixed up as soon as pos-
