"I can't walk very much further," he said, with a sigh. And then he added quickly: "Jack, have you any matches?"
"Oh, yes! I put a box in my pocket before we started."
"Good! Then if we have to stay here we can build a fire and maybe cook something."
The boys tried the water of the pond, and finding it fairly good drank their fill. Then they sat down to discuss the situation. Both were hungry, and in the end they gathered some dry sticks, started a fire, and cooked one of the rabbits and also a squirrel, which they ate with much satisfaction.
"We'll freeze to death if we stay here all night," was Fred's dismal comment.
"Oh, no—not if we keep the fire going."
"Then let's do that by all means. It will not only keep us warm, but it may be the means of directing somebody to this place."
It was a long night for both of the boys. They took turns at resting and at replenishing the fire, and it is doubtful if either of them got much real sleep. Once, in the early morning, came an alarm, and Fred imagined a bear was in the bushes. But the animal, or whatever it was, soon went away, and that was the end of the disturbance.
"Thank goodness! it has stopped snowing!" remarked Jack, when the cousins were preparing a breakfast of another squirrel.
The snow had not amounted to much, being less than an inch in depth. The storm had cleared away entirely, and at the proper time the sun came up over the hills beyond Clearwater Lake.