Quonab returned from a brief reconnoitre to say, " Ugh! -- good
going."

The clouds were broken and flying, the sun came out at times, but
the wind was high, the cold intense, and the snow still drifting.
Poor Skookum had it harder than the men, for they wore snowshoes;
but he kept his troubles to himself and bravely trudged along
behind. Had he been capable of such reflection he might have
said, "What delightful weather, it keeps the fleas so quiet."

That day there was little to note but the intense cold, and again
both men had their cheeks frost-bitten on the north side. A nook
under an overhanging rock gave a good camp that night. Next day
the bad weather resumed, but, anxious to push on they faced it,
guided chiefly by the wind. It was northwest, and as long as they
felt this fierce, burning cold mercilessly gnawing on their
hapless tender right cheek bones, they knew they were keeping
their proper main course.

They were glad indeed to rest at dusk and thaw their frozen
faces. Next day at dawn they were off; at first it was calm, but
the surging of the snow waves soon began again, and the air was
filled with the spray of their lashing till it was hard to see
fifty yards in any direction. They were making very bad time. The
fourth day should have brought them to Ogdensburg, but they were
still far off; how far they could only guess, for they had not
come across a house or a settler.