Hope springs fresh in every heart!
The men shoulder their poles and spades and follow the dog.
Straight as the bee flies he leads them to the snowed-up entrance to Bruce’s cavern, and here Tyro begins to tear and scratch at the snow in the most frantic way.
“To work, men,” cries M‘Crae. “Dead or alive, the boys are inside the cave.”
And the men did work too, as hard as ever men worked in life.
The snow, however, was powdery, and difficult to dig, and it must have been fifteen feet deep if a single inch.
Willie and Sandie had both fallen into an uneasy kind of slumber, worn out with cold and hunger, when they were aroused by hearing Raglan neigh. Indeed it seemed more of a happy laugh than a neigh.
“Hee—haw—hm-m-m—haw—hm-m-m!” Over and over again too.
For his quick ear could catch sounds outside long before those of the boys.
Presently, however, a little ray of light streamed into their utter darkness through the awful bank of snow, and they could hear voices without.