In the splendor of it the solitude of ice and snow glistened without end.

There was no sound but the slipping of the sledge, the pattering of the dogs' moccasined feet, and now and then a few breathless words spoken by Rod or his companions.

It was a little after eight o'clock by Rod's watch when there came a change in the appearance of the lake ahead of them.
Wabi, who was on the sledge, was the first to notice it, and he shouted back his discovery to the white youth.
"The forest! We're across!" The tired dogs seemed to leap into new life at his words, and the leader replied with a whining joyous cry as the odors of balsam and fir came to him.

The sharp pinnacles of the forest, reaching up into the night's white glow, grew more and more distinct as the sledge sped on, and five minutes later the team drew up in a huddled, panting bunch on the shore.

That day the men and dogs from Wabinosh House had traveled sixty miles.
"We'll camp here!" declared Wabi, as he dropped on the sledge.