“The tent’ll fix us all right,” explained Roy as he backed against the wind and began to dump his firewood on the snow. “But first we’ve got to make a camp site. Take off your snowshoes.”
Where the wind had been cutting over the tops of the rocks a sort of vacuum had been formed behind the ridge and into this the snow had been piled up to a depth of four or five feet. With a snowshoe, each boy tackled this bank. Soon they had dug a pit in it about ten by ten feet. By throwing the loose snow around the edge of this they created a wall about seven feet high.
“Now I’ll show you a trick I read about,” exclaimed Roy.
From the pine grove on the edge of the plateau he had dragged the slender trunk of a poplar tree about twelve feet long. This he now threw over the opening in the snow, making a sort of a ridge pole, and then with Paul’s assistance unrolled the tent and spread it across. While Paul held the edges of the somewhat awkward canvas in place on top of the snow wall Roy piled snow on the ends of the canvas and just as it was too dark to see more the excavation was thoroughly roofed except in one corner where the irregular canvas did not fit.
“We need that for a chimney opening anyway,” exclaimed Roy.
Before a fire could be started, however, there was the sound of a rifle off to the south, to which Paul responded with a pistol shot. Then the camp makers carried their wood into the snow house and while Paul attended to their scanty food supply and arranged the sleeping bags as rugs on the crisp snow floor, Roy started a fire. The blaze emphasized the darkness without and, realizing that their companions had no signal, the two boys split up a torch with the axe and carried it outside where, while they could keep it alight, it might serve as a beacon.
But this was not necessary. Both the Indian and Norman came in, guided by Paul’s revolver shot. Neither reported signs of game. Both were elated over the house which was already so warm within that the heavy coats and mittens could be discarded.
“I s’pose supper’s all ready,” exclaimed Norman after he had got his numbed limbs warmed.
“No,” answered Roy, “I’ve just been waiting for you so we could have it all fresh and hot. I’m going to prepare it myself and everything’s going to be in trapper style. It won’t be much but it’s all you need and it’s according to the rules and regulations. I’ve already got my hot water. Now I’ll get the bannocks ready.”
“Didn’t you bring those I made for you?” asked Philip, the camp cook and hunter.