Vainly he sought along the ridge for some slight sign of his former presence there.

But everything was gone.

The sun had destroyed his last hope.
He was glad that Mukoki and Wabigoon were at the foot of the ridge, for he knew that his despair almost brought tears to his eyes, Minnetaki's fate was in his hands--and he had failed.

He dreaded to tell his companions, to let them see his face.

For once in his life, though he was as courageous a youth as ever lived, Roderick Drew almost wished that he was dead.
Suddenly, as in their hopeless search for some familiar object Rod's eyes traveled again over the endless waste of snow, he saw, far away, something that glittered in the morning sun like a pane of glass, and from his lips there fell a low exultant cry.