"What are they?"
"What to do after it stops; the snow will be several feet deep on top of that which is now on the ground; it will be too fine and soft to bear our weight, and can be traveled over only with snow-shoes which we haven't got. How then are we going to fight our way thirty miles through it?"
"It will be a hard job, but no greater than that which many explorers have undergone. With Docak as our guide, I think we can pull through."
"But what is the other matter you refer to?" asked Rob.
"This wood will soon go, and then how are we going to keep from freezing to death?"
"If we will huddle together as closely as we can with the bear-skin wrapped about us I think we can stand it."
"I like the way you chaps talk," said the sailor, admiringly, "and if we have to go down we'll do so with colors flying. It's the downheartedness of Docak that knocks me askew; if he would show a braver front I would feel better."
"Possibly he is more hopeful than he pretends."
"No, he isn't that sort of chap; he knows better than we just what all this means. Whew!"
The exclamation was caused by a sudden outburst that sent the snow whirling through the opening and the crevice, from which the bear-skin dropped, as if struck a blow from the other side. Jack ran forward, picked it up, and thrust it back, hardly able to breathe from the fury of the gale in his face.