They pushed on from two o’clock to four. By that time the leaden sky was growing dark, and they looked around for the best shelter obtainable. At last they chose a spot where there were some rocks and thickly set trees.
“This isn’t as good as it might be, but it’s the best around here, I reckon,” said Lawson.
They scraped away the snow and built a fire, and then heaped up some brushwood as a shelter from the wind. But it kept growing colder and colder, until they were glad enough to huddle close to the blaze with their coats buttoned closely around them.
“This is going to be a banner night,” said Henry, and his words proved correct, so far as the cold was concerned. The temperature dropped steadily until two o’clock in the morning, when Dave felt as if he was “breathing icicles” as he expressed it. It was so cold that nobody could sleep, and they spent the time in hugging the fire and in drinking hot coffee. The two men had a bottle of liquor, of which they consumed not a little. The liquor was offered to the two youths, but each declined.
“I think we are better off without it,” said Dave, and Henry said the same.
CHAPTER XXI
A NEW MOVE
All were glad to see the sun rise in the morning. The storm had cleared away, the wind had fallen, and gradually the temperature rose once more.
“That was a night to remember,” said Henry. “I don’t want to be out in anything colder.”
“Nor I,” answered his cousin. “Had it not been for the roaring fire and the hot coffee we might have been frozen to death.”
“I’d rather have my liquor than the coffee,” said Devine.