THE SNOW FORT
The hut was quiet at an unusually early hour, for the men had done a
very hard day's work, and felt the strain after the long weeks of
inactivity. At daybreak they were up and about, but could remain out but
a few minutes, for the cold was so intense that they felt unable to face
it until they had taken some hot tea and eaten something. Half an hour
sufficed for this early breakfast. Hunting Dog was again left behind by
the chief when he started.
"Two eyes enough," the latter said. "Hunting Dog more use here."
The wall of blocks was raised three more feet during the day, as it was
agreed to devote all their efforts to this, and to defer the work of
thickening it until the next day, for the snow had now been cleared so
far from its foot that it could no longer be thrown inside. Though but
six feet above the snow level, it was at least three feet more above the
level of the rock, and its face was a solid sheet of ice, Tom having,
during the two days, made innumerable journeys backwards and forwards
with snow-water.
"Another couple of feet and it will be high enough for anything," Harry
said. "I don't believe that the Indians will venture to attack us, but
it is just as well to have it so high that they can't help each other up
to the top. If they knew how strong it is, I am sure they would not
attack, and would leave us alone altogether, but if a hundred of them
creep up in the dark and make a rush, they will do their best to try to
climb it. Anyhow we sha'n't need to make the bank behind very high. If
it goes to within four feet and a half of the top, so that we can stand
and fire over the wall, that is all that is wanted."
Leaping Horse returned at dusk as before. He uttered a warm approval of
the work when he had examined it.
"Good fort," he said, "better than palisades. Indian no climb over it.
No opening to fire through, good as wall of town house."
"I think they will be puzzled when they get here, chief."
"Must watch well to-night," the chief said. "Indian scout sure to come.
Two men keep on watch; two better than one."
"That is so, chief; we will change every hour. But it will be mighty
cold. I don't see why we shouldn't rig up a shelter against the wall,
and have a bit of a fire there. Then the two on watch can take it by
turns every few minutes to come in and get a warm."
With poles and skins a lean-to was speedily constructed against the
wall. The snow was hammered down, and a hearth made of half a dozen logs
packed closely together. Some brands were brought up from the fire in
the hut, and the skins across the end of the lean-to dropped, so that
the air within could get warm while they were at supper.
"Hunting Dog and Tom shall take the first watch," Harry said; "Sam and I
will take the next, Jerry and Ben the third, then you, chief, can take
the next."
"Leaping Horse watch by himself," the Seneca said; "his eyes will be
open."
"Very well, chief. I know you are as good as any two of us, so that will
give us each one hour out and three hours in bed."
Wrapping buffalo robes round them, Tom and the young Indian went up to
the fort. Tom drew aside one of the skins and looked into the shelter.
The hearth was in a glow, and two logs lying on it were burning well.
The night was very still, except for the occasional rumble of some
distant snow-slide. For a few minutes they stood looking over the wall,
but keeping far back, so that only their heads were above its level.
"Tom go in by the fire," the Indian said. "All white, no need for four
eyes."
"Very well, I will go in first; but mind, you have got to go in
afterwards. I sha'n't go in if you don't."
After waiting for a few minutes in the shelter Tom went out again, and
Hunting Dog took his place. It was his first war-path, and nothing would
have persuaded him to retire from the watch had he not felt sure that
even white men's eyes could not fail to detect any dark object moving on
the surface of the snow. But although all white the surface was not
level; here and there were sudden elevations marking rises in the rock
beneath. Still it seemed impossible to Tom that anyone could approach
unseen.
In spite of the protection of the buffalo robe it was intensely cold
outside, and he was glad each time when his turn came for a warm by the
fire. The changes, too, made the time pass quickly, and he was quite
surprised when his uncle and Sam came out to relieve them. The other two
men and the chief were still smoking by the fire. There was tea in the
kettle, and they evidently did not mean to lie down until after their
first watch. Every few minutes the chief got up and went out to the
platform, and stood listening there intently for a short time. Just
before it was time to change the guard again he said when he returned:
"Indian down in valley."
"Have you heard them, chief?"
"Leaping Horse heard a dead stick crack."
"That might have been a deer," Ben suggested.
The chief shook his head. "'Rappahoe; heard gun strike tree."
"Then I reckon they will be up in our watch," Ben said. "Well, we shall
be ready for them."
"Perhaps come, perhaps not come; perhaps scout up valley first see if
some of us there, and look for horses. Perhaps some come up path; but
crawl up slow, not know whether look-out there."
"Well, I don't envy them if they have got much crawling to do to-night;
it is cold enough to freeze one's breath."
"'Rappahoe not like cold," the chief said, "but wants scalp bad; that
makes his blood warm."
"I will let some of it out," Jerry said wrathfully, "if I get a chance
to lay a bead on one of them. Don't you be afeard, chief; we will look
out sharp enough, you bet. Waal, I reckon it is about our time to turn
out, Ben."
"Jerry tells me that you have heard noises below, chief," Harry said
when he came in. "We heard nothing, but it ain't easy to hear well with
these hoods over one's head."
"Hoods bad for hear," the chief assented. "Leaping Horse heard plain,
Indians down below."
"Well, it is only what we expected, chief. Anyhow, we are ready for them
when they come."
Tom lay down now, and knew nothing more till Hunting Dog touched him.
"Time to go and watch," he said.
"Has everything been quiet?"
The Indian nodded. "No come yet."
Leaping Horse remained at his post after they came out to relieve him.
Tom made no comment. Harry had impressed upon him the necessity for
absolute silence.
"If they hear voices they will never come near us," he had said, "and we
would rather they came than stopped away. The sooner we get this job
over the better."
The chief stood with his head slightly bent forward and the hood of his
hunting-shirt thrown back, listening attentively. Then he touched
Hunting Dog, and stooping low down whispered something in his ear, and
then both stood again listening. Tom, too, threw back his hood, but he
could hear nothing whatever, and was soon glad to pull it forward over
his ears again. He strained his eyes in the direction towards which they
were listening, which was apparently towards the edge of the ravine
where the Indian trail came up from below. All seemed to him to be white
and bare.
Presently the chief's rifle went up to his shoulder; there was a sharp
crack, a dark figure leapt up from the snow fifty yards away and then
fell headlong down again. It seemed to Tom almost magical. His eyes had
been fixed in that direction for the last five minutes, and he could
have sworn that the surface of the snow was unbroken. A minute later the
other four men came running up.
"What is it, chief?" Harry whispered.
Leaping Horse pointed to the dark figure stretched out on the snow.
"So you have got the varmint. Good! Do you think there are any more of
them about?"
"More there sure," the chief said, pointing to the path up from below.
"Perhaps more there," and he pointed to a broad black line from the foot
of the cliffs to the edge of the ravine, where, three days before, an
avalanche from the hills above had swept the rock clear of snow.
"They must have made sure that we were all asleep, or that fellow would
never have shown himself on the snow," Harry said.
"He did not show himself, uncle. How he got there I don't know; but I
was looking at the spot when the chief fired, and I saw no signs of him
whatever. How he hid himself I don't know. If it had been anywhere else
I should have said he must have had a white sheet over him."
"It certainly was not that whatever it was, Tom. However, we shall see
in the morning. Well, we may as well turn in again. Will they try again,
do you think, chief?"
"Not try to-night, too cold; if any there, will hide up till daybreak.
Now they know we are awake, will not venture on snow."
Half an hour later a great fire was lighted out of gunshot range lower
down the valley, and three or four figures could be seen round it.
"Too cold," Hunting Dog said to Tom. "All gone down to get warm."
The watches were relieved regularly through the night, but there was no
further alarm until just after daylight had broken, when Sam Hicks
suddenly discharged his rifle. The others all turned out at once. He had
fired at a bush just at the point where the trail came up from below,
and he declared that he had seen a slight movement there, and that some
pieces of the snow had dropped from the leaves.
"We will make sure that there is no one there," Harry said, "and then we
will turn out and have a look. It is like enough that one of the
red-skins from below came up the path to have a look at us this
morning."
He took a steady aim and fired.
"Fetch up an axe, Tom; we will cut that bush away at once. It is lucky
that Sam caught sight of the red-skin. If he had not done so he might
have got a bullet in his own head, for when the red-skin had finished
taking a view of the fort he would certainly have picked off Sam or
myself before he went down. It is a weak point, that from here one can't
command the path. If they come in force we shall have to keep watch on
the platform too. From there you can get a sight of two or three of its
turnings."
[Illustration: "They Went Out To Look At The Indian The Chief Had
Shot."]
They went out together, and as they passed, stopped to look at the body
of the Indian the chief had shot. He was a young brave of two-or
three-and-twenty, and the manner of his advance so far unperceived was
now evident. Favoured by a slight fall in the ground, he had crawled
forward, scooping a trench wide enough for his body a foot in depth,
pushing the snow always forward, so that it formed a sort of bank in
front of him and screened him from the sight of those on watch. The
chief's keen eye had perceived a slight movement of the snow, and after
watching a moment had fired at the point where he judged anyone
concealed by it must be. He had calculated accurately. The ball had
struck on the shoulder close to the neck, and had passed down through
the body. The Indian had brought no rifle with him, but had knife and
tomahawk in his belt.
"Poor young fellow," Harry said. "He wanted to win a name for himself by
a deed of desperate bravery. It has cost him his life, but as he would
have taken ours if he had had a chance it is of no use regretting it."
They now went on to the bush.
"You were right, Sam," he went on, as they saw the impression on the
snow made by a figure lying down behind it. "There was an Indian here
sure enough, and here is the mark of the stock of his rifle, and no
doubt he would have picked off one of us if you had not scared him. I
don't expect you hit him; there are no signs of blood."
"Fire too high," the chief said, pointing to a twig that had been
freshly cut off two feet from the ground. "Always shoot low at man
behind bush. Man cannot float in air."
There was a general laugh at Sam, who replied: "I did not suppose he
could, chief. I just fired where I saw the snow fall, without thinking
about it one way or the other. I was an all-fired fool, but I shall know
better next time."
The bush was cut down, and also two or three others that grew along by
the edge of the ravine. On their way back to the hut Harry stopped by
the dead Indian.
"Fetch me a shovel, Tom," he said, "I will dig a hole in the snow; it
ain't a pleasant object to be looking at anyway."
Tom fetched the shovel, Harry dug down in the snow till he reached the
rock, then he and Jerry laid the body in it and filled in the snow
again. The chief looked on.
"Bears get him," he said when they had finished.
"That is like enough, chief, but we have done the best we can for him.
There is no digging into the rock."
"I thought the Indians always scalped enemies they shot?" Tom afterwards
said to his uncle.
"So they do, Tom; but you see the chief is a sort of civilized Indian.
He has consorted for years with whites, and he knows that we don't like
it. I don't say he wouldn't do it if he were on the war-path by himself,
but with us he doesn't, at any rate not openly. I have no doubt it went
against his grain to see the red-skin buried with his hair on, for the
scalp would have been a creditable one, as it would not have been got
without a clear eye and good judgment in shooting. I have no doubt he
has got some scalps about him now, though he don't show them; but they
will be hung up some day if he ever settles down in a wigwam of his own.
"Well, chief, and what do you think," he asked Leaping Horse, as, after
returning to the hut, they sat down to breakfast, "will they come or
won't they?"
"I think they no come," the chief said. "Scout behind bush will tell
them fort too strong to take; must cross snow, and many fall before they
get to it. Very hard to climb. No like cold, Leaping Horse thinks they
will stop in wigwams."
"No fools either," Jerry agreed; "a man would be worse than a natural if
he were to go fooling about in this weather, and run a pretty good big
risk of getting shot and nothing much to gain by it. They know we have
left their country now, and ain't likely to come back again either to
hunt there or to dig gold, and that all we want is to get away as soon
as we can. I allow that the chief is right, and that we sha'n't hear no
more of them, anyhow not for some time."
The chief nodded. "If come again, not come now. Wait a moon, then think
perhaps we sleep sound and try again; but more likely not try."
"Much more likely," Harry assented. "Unless they can do it by a
surprise. Indians are not fond of attacking; they know we shoot
straighter than they do and have better rifles. You remember that time
when you and I and Jersey Dick kept off a party of Navahoes from sunrise
till sunset down near the Emigrant trail? It was lucky for us that a
post-rider who was passing along heard the firing, and took the news to
a fort, and that the officer there brought out fifty troopers just as
the sun went down, or we should have been rubbed out that night sure."
The Seneca nodded.
"How was it, Harry?" Sam Hicks asked.
"It was just the usual thing, Sam. We had left the trail two days
before, and were hunting on our own account when the Navahoes came down.
We had just time to throw the three horses and lie down behind them.
They were within two hundred yards when I began and fetched the chief,
who was leading them, out of his saddle. Leaping Horse brought down
another one and Jersey Dick held his fire, and instead of keeping
straight on they began to straggle round. And they kept at that all day.
Sometimes they would get in pretty close, but each time they did the
chief brought down a horse, and when his rider, who was of course
hanging on the other side of him, got up to run, I fetched him down.
Dick wasn't much of a shot, so we would not let him fire. It discourages
red-skins mightily when they see that there is never a shot thrown
away, and that it is sure death whenever one draws a trigger. So at last
they got careful and held off, knowing as they would get us at night,
when they could have crawled up on foot and made a rush when they got
close to us.
"The worst of it was we hadn't struck water the evening before, and it
was just one of the hottest days on the plains, and we were pretty nigh
mad with thirst before evening. I believe when the soldiers rode up I
was about as glad to get a drink from one of their bottles as I was that
the Navahoes bolted when they saw them coming. No, the red-skins ain't
any good for an open attack; they would have lost fewer men by riding
straight at us than they did by fooling round, but they could not bring
themselves to do it, and I reckon that is what it will be here. They
may, as the chief says, try, say six weeks on, when the frost begins to
break, in hopes that we may have given up keeping watch: but if they
find us awake they will never try an open attack, for they could not
reckon on taking the place without losing a score of men in doing so. If
the snow was off the ground it would be different. Then of a dark night
they could crawl up close and make a rush."
After breakfast the chief and Hunting Dog went out scouting. When they
returned they brought news that three Indians had come over the snow
along the side of the hills, that three others had come up the valley,
and that in a wood half a mile below where they had seen the fire, there
had been a large party encamped.
"I reckoned that would be about it, chief. Three fellows came along over
the hill, in case we should be keeping guard at the top of the path, and
they had a big force somewhere down below, so that if the scouts
reported that there was nothing to prevent them falling on us they would
come up before morning and wipe us out. I suppose they have all ridden
off?"
"All gone. Leaping Horse and Hunting Dog followed right down valley. No
stop anywhere, gone back to lodges."
"Then in that case, Harry, we had best get the critters down to their
shed again. They have eaten all that stuff they brought up three days
ago, I gave them the last of it this morning. The Indians know that we
keep a pretty sharp look-out during the day and there ain't no fear of
their coming up here when it is light."
As the chief was also of opinion that there was no danger, the horses
were taken down the path into the valley, where on having their bridles
unbuckled they at once trotted off of their own accord towards the
beaver meadow.
For the next six weeks a watch was kept regularly, but by only one man
at a time. The horses were driven down to the valley every morning and
brought up again before sunset. There was little hunting now, for they
had as many skins as they could carry comfortably, and a supply of
frozen meat sufficient to last well into the spring. In March the
weather became perceptibly warmer, and the snow in the valley began to
melt where the full power of the sun at mid-day fell upon it. Day by
day the crashes of distant avalanches became more frequent, and they
began to look forward to the time when they should be able to proceed on
their journey.
One night towards the end of the month Tom was on watch, when he heard a
rustling sound far up beyond the wall of cliff in front of him. It grew
louder and rose to a roar, and then a white mass came pouring down over
the cliff. Leaping from the wall he dashed down the path to the hut. It
needed no word to call the men to their feet, for a deep rumbling filled
the air and the rock seemed to quiver. The horses struggled to break
their head-ropes and snorted with fright.
"Your backs to the wall!" Harry shouted, and as all leapt across at his
order there was a crash overhead. The roof above them fell in and a mass
of snow followed; a minute later a deep silence followed the deafening
roar.
"Anyone hurt?" Harry shouted, and the replies came in muffled tones. Tom
was jambed against the rock by the snow; he was nearest to the entrance,
his uncle was next to him.
"I am all right at present, uncle, but I feel half smothered."
"All right, lad; I am pretty free, and I will soon clear you a bit."
The snow was pushed away from before Tom's face, his left arm was
cleared, and then his uncle with a vigorous pull brought him back close
to him. Here he was comparatively free, for a part of the roof had
fallen close to the wall and had partially kept off the snow. Then Harry
turned, and with some difficulty managed to get Jerry, who was next to
him, freed from the snow.
"Now, Jerry, you work along that way and get at the others. Tom and I
will try to burrow a way out."
It was a difficult task. Once through the passage in the log wall they
pushed to the left towards the edge of the platform, taking it by turns
to go first until the snow became lighter; then by a vigorous effort
Harry rose to his feet, sending a mass of snow tumbling over the edge of
the platform. As soon as Tom had joined him they set to work with hands
and knives, and soon cleared a passage back to the entrance. Just as
they did so Jerry crawled out from within.
"Are they all right, Jerry?"
"Yes, the others are coming; only about twelve feet of the roof caved
in, and the two Indians and Sam soon got in among the horses. I had a
lot of trouble with Ben; he had been knocked down, and I thought that he
was gone when I got him out; but he is all right now, though he can't
walk yet. The Indians and Sam have got the shovels, and are working away
to clear a passage along by the wall; there is no getting Ben out
through that rabbit-hole you have made."
"Thank God we are all right," Harry said; "it does not matter a bit, now
that we know no one is badly hurt. We will begin at this end, but we
sha'n't be able to do much until we get the shovels, the snow will fall
in as fast as we get it out."
They soon found that they could do nothing in this way.
"We will try to tunnel again," Harry said, "it is not more than ten feet
along. If we get in and hump ourselves, we shall soon get it big enough
to drag Ben out, then the others can follow, and we can set to work with
the spades to clear the place."
After a good deal of effort they succeeded in enlarging the hole, and
then got Ben through it, one crawling backwards and pulling him while
the other shoved at his legs.
"How do you feel, Ben?" Harry asked him when they laid him down outside.
"I dunno, Harry; I am afraid my back is badly hurt. I don't seem to feel
my legs at all. I expect they are numbed from the weight of snow on
them."
"I will crawl into our store and fetch out the keg."
"I reckon a drop of whisky will do me good if anything will," Ben said.
"I was crushed pretty near flat, and if my head hadn't been against the
wall I should have been smothered. Are you all right, young Tom?"
"Yes, I am not hurt at all. The snow squeezed me against the rock, and I
could not move an inch, but uncle managed to get me a little free and
then pulled me out of it."
Harry soon came back with the whisky, and was followed by the Indians
and Sam, who found that they could do nothing with the snow, which fell
in as fast as they cleared it. Their first step was to dig out a buffalo
robe to wrap Ben in. His voice was stronger after he had drank some
spirit, and he said that he felt better already. The others at once set
to work with the shovels. They first cleared the platform along by the
wall to the entrance, and then attacked the snow which filled the space
between the two rock walls to the top.
Two of them worked with poles, loosening the snow above, and bringing it
down in masses, while those with shovels cast it out on to the platform,
going out occasionally to throw it over into the ravine. Hunting Dog
made his way up over the snow to the top of the path, and called down to
say that the fort was entirely swept away, and the chief told him to
take up his post at once at the top of the path leading from below.
"He need not have told us that the fort was gone," Jerry grumbled. "If
it had been made of cast-iron it would not have stood. The sooner we get
our rifles out the better."
This could not be done for a time, for the loosening of the snow above
had caused that below to slip, and the passage along by the wall had
fallen in. The Indians, however, who had slept beyond the part filled by
snow, had brought their pieces out with them, and could have defended
the path alone. Several times those at work were buried by falls of
snow, and had to be dragged out by the others. By daylight a
considerable gap had been made in the snow, and they were able to get
into the space beyond the fall. A number of logs, and a joint of meat
that had been taken in the day before to thaw, were brought out, and a
fire was soon blazing on the platform.
"I wonder why the snow did not shoot over as it did before?" Ben, who
was now able to sit up, remarked.
"I reckon it is the fort did it," Harry said. "Of course it went, but it
may have checked the rush of the snow for a moment, and those thick
walls couldn't have got the same way on as the rest of the snow had."
"But the fort wasn't over the roof, uncle," Tom remarked.
"No, but it may have blocked the slide a little, and thrown some of it
sideways; you see it is only this end that gave, while it shot right
over the rest of the roof just as before."
"It is mighty lucky it did not break in all along," Sam Hicks said, "for
it would have left us without horses if it had; and it would have been
mighty rough on us to have lost them, just as we are going to want them,
after our taking such pains with them all through the winter."
The chief took Hunting Dog's place as soon as he had finished his meal,
and remained on watch all day. The men worked without ceasing, but it
was not until sunset that the snow was completely cleared away.
"I reckon that we shall have to be starting before long," Jerry said as
they sat round the fire in what they before called their store-room,
having driven the horses as far in as possible to make room. "We could
have held out before as long as we liked, but it is different now. The
rock's cleared now for a hundred yards on each side of us, our fort's
gone, and there is nothing to prevent the redskins from crawling close
up the first dark night and making a rush. They are like enough to be
sending scouts up the valley occasionally, and it won't be long before
they hear that our fort has gone and the ground cleared of snow."
Leaping Horse nodded. "Two men must watch at top of path," he said.
"That is right enough, chief; but we know three of them came along the
hills before, and it is like enough they will all come that way next
time. They are safe to reckon that we shall hold the path."
"It is very unfortunate," Harry said; "in another month, we should have
been able to travel. Anyhow, it seems to me that we have got to try now;
it would never do to be caught in here by the red-skins. If we are to
go, the sooner the better. All our meat has been carried over the edge.
This is about the time we expected the Indians back, and it would be
dangerous to scatter hunting. It is a big risk, too, taking the horses
down to the meadow. No, I think we can manage to get over the pass. The
snow gets softer every day when the sun is on it; but it freezes at
night. We have the moon, too, so we shall be able to travel then; and
even if we take three or four days getting over the divide we can sleep
in the daytime."
"We must get a little more meat anyhow before we start," Jerry said.
"This joint ain't more than enough for another square meal for us, and
though I reckon the bighorns will be coming up to the hills again now,
it won't do to risk that."
"We have the pack-horses, Jerry."
"Yes, I did not think of them. Horseflesh ain't so bad on a pinch; but I
don't want to lose our skins."
"Better our skins than our hair," Sam laughed.
"That is right enough, Sam, but I would like to save both."
"Perhaps there is some of the meat under the snow," Tom suggested. "It
hung near the wall, and the snow must have come straight down on it from
above, as it did in here."
"That is so, Tom; we will have a look the first thing in the morning. I
am so tired now I would not dig for it if it were gold."
As soon as it was light the next morning they began to clear the snow
from the rest of the platform, and found to their great satisfaction
four bear hams. The rest of the meat had been swept over the edge. The
two Indians had not shared in the work, having started away early
without saying where they were going. They returned to breakfast, each
carrying a hind-quarter of venison, which they had found in the snow
below.
It was agreed that a start should be made that evening. By sunset the
horses were loaded, and half an hour later they moved away. Ben Gulston
had to be assisted on to his horse, for although in other respects
recovered, it was found that he had so severely strained his back across
the loins that he was scarcely able to walk a foot. The moon was shining
brightly, and as soon as they were on the snow they could see as plainly
as if it were day. All were in high spirits that they had left the spot
where for six months they had been prisoners. They had difficulty in
restraining themselves from shouting and singing, but the chief before
starting had warned them of the necessity for travelling silently.
"Snow-slides very bad now; shouting might set them going."
The others looked rather incredulous, but Harry said:
"I know he is right, boys; for I have heard that in the Alps the guides
always forbid talking when they are crossing places exposed to
avalanches. At any rate we may as well give the snow as little chance as
may be of going for us."
They travelled in Indian file from habit rather than necessity, for the
snow was firm and hard, and the horses made their way over it without
difficulty. There had been some debate as to the way they should go; but
they determined at last to take the valley through the cliff wall, and
to strike to the right whenever they came upon a likely spot for
crossing. Two such attempts were made in vain, the upper slopes of snow
being found too steep for the horses to climb; but at the third, which
was made just after morning broke, they succeeded in getting up the hill
to their right, and, after great difficulty, descended into another
valley. This they had little doubt was the one that led to the pass, for
from the hill they could see the great peak along whose foot the trail
ran.
It was ten o'clock before they got down into the valley. The snow was
beginning to be soft on the surface, and the horses were tired out. They
therefore halted, made a fire with two or three of the logs they had
brought with them for the purpose, boiled water and had breakfast, and
gave half a bucket of gruel to each of the animals. Then wrapping
themselves in their buffalo robes they lay down and slept till late in
the afternoon. The journey was resumed at sunset, and before morning
they had crossed the divide; and when the sun rose obtained a view over
the country far to the south.