What were they to do? Pursue its course to the Missouri? To go on
at this season of the year seemed dangerous in the extreme.
There was no prospect of obtaining either food or fuel. The country
was destitute of trees, and though there might be driftwood along
the river, it lay too deep beneath the snow for them to find it.
The weather was threatening a change, and a snow-storm on these
boundless wastes might prove as fatal as a whirlwind of sand on an
Arabian desert. After much deliberation, it was at length determined
to retrace their last three days' journey of seventy-seven miles,
to a place where they had seen a sheltering growth of forest-trees,
and where there was an abundance of game. Here they would once more
set up their winter quarters, and await the opening of navigation
to launch themselves in canoes.
Accordingly, on the 27th of December they faced about, retraced their
steps, and on the 30th regained the part of the river in question.
They encamped on the margin of the river, in a grove where there were
trees large enough for canoes. Here they put up a shed for immediate
shelter, and at once proceeded to erect a cabin. New Year's Day
dawned when but one wall of their cabin was completed; the genial and
jovial day, however, was not permitted to pass uncelebrated, even by
this weather-beaten crew of wanderers. All work was suspended, except
that of roasting and boiling.
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