All was silent as the grave.

We rode round and round, then dismounted and looked into several of the spacious huts.
They had evidently been long deserted.

Nothing remained but the bare walls of bark, from which everything in the shape of furniture had been stripped by the owners and carried with them to their wintering-grounds, to be brought back in the spring, when they returned to make their corn-fields and occupy their summer cabins.
Our disappointment may be better imagined than described.

With heavy hearts, we mounted and once more pursued our way, the snow again falling and adding to the discomforts of our position.

At length we halted for the night.