But soon
he abandoned this operation. "We'll come and get him to-morrow," he
muttered, "and he is better with his skin on. Meantime we'll have a
steak, however." He hung a bit of skin from a pole to keep off the
wolves and selected a choice cut for the supper. He worked hurriedly,
for the sudden drop in the temperature was ominous of a serious
disturbance in the weather, but before he had finished he was startled
to observe a large snowflake lazily flutter to the ground beside him.
He glanced towards the sky and found that the filmy clouds were rapidly
assuming definite shape and that the sun had almost disappeared.
Hurriedly he took his bearings and, calculating as best he could the
direction of the camp, set off, well satisfied with the outcome of his
expedition and filled with the pleasing anticipation of a venison supper
for himself and the rest of the gang.
The country was for the most part open except for patches of timber here
and there, and with a clear sky the difficulty of maintaining direction
would have been but slight. With the sky overcast, however, this
difficulty was sensibly increased. He had not kept an accurate reckoning
of his course, but from the character of the ground he knew that he
must be a considerable distance westward of the line of the camp.
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