"It strikes me the snow is packed lighter than what we struck at first; what do you think about it, Mayhew?" The frontiersman was always willing to advance an opinion after it had been asked, though he would seldom speak first. So now he stopped to take in a few good breaths, and then made reply. "I was just thinking the same way myself, to tell you the truth. And it goes to show that we must be getting near the outside, where the pressure is much less." "Then we may break through at any time; is that it?" asked Dick. After a short time Roger gave utterance to a shout. "I'm through the layer of packed snow!" he exclaimed jubilantly. "See, here is a place where a stick cuts into it as easy as it would through a pear. We have won out, Dick; and in a little while we ought to see the outside world again." On investigation it was discovered that there was good reason for Roger's jubilation. They had bored through the bank of snow that filled the opening, thanks to the wisdom shown in attacking it at its weakest point. Five minutes afterwards a hole had been made sufficiently large to allow of their crawling through it to freedom. The snow had ceased falling, although there did not seem to be a break in the clouds overhead. It was much over a foot on the level, and in some places, where the wind had drifted it, they found it would pay them to go around rather than wade directly through. "That way leads to where we had our bitter experience last night," said Dick, as he pointed toward the southwest. "We do not want to see Lascelles and his red allies again, if we can help it, so we will not turn in that direction." "If we ever do have to meet him face to face," added Roger, "let us hope it will be when we have plenty of powder and bullets for our guns. If the cowardly rascal had not kept himself hidden behind that tree, while the fight was going on, I would have made sure that my lead found him. He is the worst enemy our families know, for he would rob them of their homes." "I felt the same way," confessed Dick; "but he was too smart for us. I think he must have guessed he would be the first target for our guns. Still, we must remember that even Lascelles is not as bad as he might be. He would not allow the Indians to kill us on the spot, for one thing, as some renegades would have done." "Well, after all," Roger continued, "it is a question in my mind whether he saved us because he had a streak of decency in him, or for some other reason. Perhaps he meant we should be carried off by those Blackfeet to their village, and adopted into the tribe." "It might be as you say," admitted Dick, "for he told us that was what he meant them to do with Jasper Williams. It would be getting well rid of troublesome enemies, because there would be little chance of our ever coming back." "Now that we have burrowed out of that trap, what is the next move, Dick?"