“Ugh! but that was a cold dose!” cried Jack, as he scraped the snow from around his neck and wrists. “We came down with a rush, didn’t we?”
“Yes, we did that,” returned Harry. “It’s a good thing our guns didn’t go off in the tumble.”
It was no easy matter to extricate themselves from the big drift. The snow was all around them, and at the very first step forward, they went down to their armpits.
“Hold on!” cried Harry, in alarm. “Turn up the hill, or we’ll be over our heads!”
So they turned about and half walked, half crawled up to solid ground. Here they could hardly keep their feet, so strong was the wind.
“There is a clear space to our left,” said Jack. “Come on! We will soon be under the cliff!”
Away he went, with Harry close behind him. The shelter under the trees and bushes was not less than two hundred feet away.
As they advanced, a peculiar sound broke upon their ears. Jack heard it first, and called Harry’s attention to it.
“What can it be?” he said.
“Sounds like some sort of a bird,” replied Harry. “Let us have our guns ready. We do not wish to lose any game, now we have come so far for it.”