Rod remembered now that they had found no more birch-bark upon the floor, which they would have done if a supply had been kept there for kindling fires.

Step by step he went over the search they had made in the old cabin, and more and more satisfied did he become that the skeleton hand held something of importance for them.
He replenished his fire and waited impatiently for dawn.

At four o'clock, before day had begun to dispel the gloom of night, he cooked his breakfast and prepared his pack for the homeward journey.

Soon afterward a narrow rim of light broke through the rift in the chasm.
Slowly it crept downward, until the young hunter could make out objects near him and the walls of the mountains.
Thick shadows still defied his vision when he began retracing his steps over the trail he had made the day before.

He returned with the same caution that he had used in his advance.