Although the position in which our lad now found himself was a very
trying one, he had anticipated and planned for it. He had no boards
with which to make a coffin, but there was plenty of stout canvas, and
in a double thickness of this he sewed the body of his friend. Before
doing so he dug away the snow beside a cairn of rocks that marked the
last resting place of her who had gone before, and placed the electric
heater, with extended wire connections, on the ground thus exposed.
Within a few hours this soil became sufficiently thawed to permit him
to dig a shallow grave, to which, by great effort, he managed to remove
the shrouded body. After covering it, and piling above it rocks as
large as he could lift, he returned to the empty dwelling, having
completed the hardest and saddest day's work of his life.
So terrible was the loneliness of that night, and so anxious was Cabot
to take his departure, that he was again astir long before daylight,
completing his preparations. He had previously built a light sled that
he proposed to drag, and had planned exactly what it should carry. Now
he loaded this with a canvas-wrapped package of cooked provisions, a
sleeping bag, a rifle together with a few rounds of ammunition, a light
axe, his precious bag of specimens, and the Man-wolf's electric
flashlight with its battery newly charged.
With everything thus in readiness he ate a hearty meal, threw the
dynamo out of gear, closed the door and shutters of the place that had
given him the shelter of a home, adjusted the hauling straps of his
sled, and set resolutely forth on his venturesome journey across the
frozen wilderness.
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