“No: we can get a great deal disposed of before we come to that. Look here—I mean, feel here. We have plenty of room to stand up where we are. Well, that means that we can raise the floor. So long as we have room to lie down, that is all we want.”
“Yes, I suppose so.”
“After a while we must get out all the food we want and take it with us in the tunnel we make higher and higher as we go.”
“Yes, that sounds reasonable,” said Abel thoughtfully. “We shall be drawing the snow down and trampling it hard beneath our feet.”
“And, I believe, be making a bigger chamber about us as we work up towards the light.”
“Keeping close to the face of the rock, too,” said Abel, “will ensure our having one side of our sloping tunnel safe. That can never cave in.”
“Well done, engineer!” cried Dallas laughingly. “Here were we thinking last night of dying. Why, the very remembrance of the way in which animals burrow has quite cheered me up.”
“That and the thought that we may have to mine underground for our gold,” replied Abel. “Shall I begin?”
“No; you’re weak yet, and it will be easier to clear away my workings.”
