They left the valley behind, and camped that evening on a great height
of land that rolled up to the brink of the valley.
Thereafter the country underwent a gradual change as they progressed
north, slanting a bit eastward. The heavy timber gave way to a sparser
growth, and that in turn dwindled to scrubby thickets, covering great
areas of comparative level. Long reaches of grassland opened before
them, waving yellow in the autumn sun. They crossed other rivers of
various degrees of depth and swiftness, swimming some and fording
others. Hazel drew upon her knowledge of British Columbia geography,
and decided that the big river where Bill hid his canoe must be the
Fraser where it debouched from the mountains. And in that case she was
far north, and in a wilderness indeed.
Her muscles gradually hardened to the saddle and to walking. Her
appetite grew in proportion. The small supply of eatable dainties that
Roaring Bill had brought from the Meadows dwindled and disappeared,
until they were living on bannocks baked a la frontier in his frying
pan, on beans and coffee, and venison killed by the way. Yet she
relished the coarse fare even while she rebelled against the
circumstances of its partaking.
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