“We chopped wood, and stacked it on one side of the wall, inside, and then started to pile up more on the outside near the door. Some of our food was buried in a pit just outside the hut, but Hal hung all there was room for to the logs of the roof.
“We were feeling quite contented one night, when Hal remarked: ‘Kid, she’s comin’ down on us. I kin tell by the queer sounds through those pines.’
“‘Let her come. We are ready,’ I laughed.
“‘All but the beds. I’ll have to go out now and bring in those balsam branches I have been savin’ all these days.’
“That night we slept upon our fresh balsam beds. When I rose I could not have told whether it was twilight or dawn. The blizzard howled outside, but Hal had a cheerful fire cracking inside.”
CHAPTER XIII
A WINTER IN THE FROZEN NORTH
“For ten days that blizzard raged, and I began to think we never would get out again. Then one morning Hal called me to see the beautiful snow. I stretched and got up. Hal had managed to chop away some of the drift that had piled against the door, and after some digging we squeezed through an aperture and stood without.