"Fishing will have to wait, Giant. Come on into the Inn."
They were glad enough to enter the shelter and rest for a few minutes. Then, when they had regained their breath, both set about building a fire. Luckily they had saved some dry bark and brushwood, so starting the blaze was comparatively easy. They heaped on several medium-sized sticks and then a good back and a front log, and soon the fire was roaring merrily. The home-made chimney was wide open at the top, so a good deal of heat was lost, yet enough remained below to warm the shelter nicely.
"I tell you, a fire makes all the difference in the world!" declared Snap, as he pulled off his outer coat and cap and sat down close to the chimney. "No matter how forlorn or lonely a fellow feels, a fire is bound to brighten him up and make him feel on better terms with himself."
"Right you are, Snap. I pity the fellow who gets left in the woods without a match, or the wherewith to start a camp-fire," answered Giant, who was using the witch hazel on his ankle.
As soon as they were warm, the two boys set to work to cook themselves a substantial meal. They prepared sufficient for all hands, thinking that Shep and Whopper would be back in an hour or two at the most.
"They won't stay out very long—with this snowstorm on," remarked
Snap. "They know what such a storm means as well as we do."
Before leaving camp that morning Giant had made some bread dough and set it for raising. This was now in good shape and he kneaded it over and made some loaves and some muffins. The muffins they used for their meal, along with more beans and some stewed squirrel, and a pot of hot chocolate. They ate leisurely, at the same time keeping their ears on the alert for the coming of their companions. Three times during the meal Snap went to the doorway, to gaze out.
"They are foolish not to come back before it gets night," he said. "If they don't look out they'll be snow-bound."
"Oh, Snap, do you think so?" cried the smaller member of the club, in alarm.
"It might happen, Giant. Just look how it is snowing! Why, I can't see a hundred feet from the Inn!"