The breeze on the lake was so keen that nobody cared to stay out in it longer than necessary. Where the snow was loose the wind often caught it up and whirled it into their faces.
“Only a little further to go,” said old Runnell at last, and in a few minutes they turned in and came to a halt not far from where there was a cliff twenty to twenty-five feet in height. Against the rocks rested two immense pine trees which the gales of the previous winter had partly uprooted.
“Here is where we can fix up a real good shelter,” said old Runnell. “We can trim off the under limbs of the trees and use them for the sides. Then we can roll up some big snow balls and put ’em right on top of the pine branches, leaving a hole for a doorway. Back in the cliff is a split in the rocks, so it will do for a chimney.”
“Then we can have a fire inside instead of outside,” said Harry. “That will be jolly. I was afraid we’d have to put up with a cold sleeping place.”
“I’m cold now,” came from Link Darrow. “Guess I’ll have to do a dance to get warm.”
“You can get warm chopping some firewood,” said Joel Runnell. “Don’t waste any of your strength. There is plenty of work to do before we can settle down to enjoy ourselves.”
CHAPTER XX
BUILDING THE NEW SHELTER
The young hunters soon found out that what Joel Runnell said was true. At first glance it looked easy enough to put the necessary shelter into shape, but when it came to clearing and leveling the ground, cutting off a great many tree branches and placing them as desired, and then covering the whole with snow, the work was hard and long lasting, and it was not until the evening of the second day that the task was completed.
Yet all worked with a will, deeming it no labor at all, since they were doing it for their own comfort and amusement.
“Say, Fred, if you had to cut wood like this at home, what would you think of it?” whispered Harry, while both were doing their best to trim away an extra heavy limb of one of the pines.