THE BACK TRAIL Blake and his friends spent three weeks at the Hudson Bay post, and throughout the first fortnight an icy wind hurled the snow against the quivering building.

It was dangerous to venture as far as a neighboring bluff, where fuel had been cut; Benson and the agent, who were hauling cordwood home, narrowly escaped from death one evening in the suddenly freshening storm.

None of the half-breeds could reach the factory, and Robertson confessed to some anxiety about them.

There was little that could be done, and they spent the dreary days lounging about the red-hot stove, and listening to the roar of the gale.

In the long evenings, Robertson told them grim stories of the North.
Then there came a week of still, clear weather, with intense frost; and when several of the trappers arrived, Robertson suggested that his guests had better accompany a man who was going some distance south with a dog team.