"I move we fine Shep one cent for a bad throw," murmured Giant.
"He can make another pot of coffee, that's what he can do," grumbled
Whopper.
"All right, I will, but no more snowballing for the present," answered
Shep, and set to work without delay.
For breakfast they had some chicken, some bread and butter and hot coffee. The bread was pretty dry, but nobody minded it, for hunger and a clear, cold atmosphere are wonderful appetite builders.
"The first thing to do to-day is to finish building our shelter," said
Snap.
"Oh, gosh! can't we go hunting?" demanded Whopper, who was itching to get out after big game.
"He wants to bring in a few of those bears he has been talking about," said Giant, with a wink of his eye.
"No hunting until the shelter is good enough to use in all kinds of weather," answered Snap.
The bracing air kept the boys moving lively, and directly after breakfast they set to work in earnest. A large quantity of tree branches were cut down, and with these they made the sides and top of the hut or cabin as tight as possible. Around the bottom of the shelter they heaped up all the snow that was close at hand.
The building of the chimney bothered them a great deal. Fortunately they found some stones which were fairly flat, and these they managed to pile up into something of a square, with an opening in the center and another at the bottom, next to the shelter. On the outside they heaped up some dirt and above this plastered the cracks with mud. When tried, the chimney drew very well, and there seemed to be little danger of it setting fire to the shelter proper.