"Why not add a visit or two from wolves, while you are about it?" put in Robson, with a laugh.
"Nothing like looking at things all around," yawned Dave. "I feel uncommonly sleepy."
"You'd better have lunch with me," proposed Robson. "It will make my head feel better. Only wish the rest of your crowd was here," he added. "Fall to, boys, and give me a hand."
At length, however, the thought that the other boys might have returned induced the three members of the Rambler Club to bring their visit to a close.
"Oh, ho, I'm afraid we'll have to go, fellows," said Dave Brandon, with a grimace. "Just think of having to face that wind."
"Sorry you have to leave," observed Robson.
"Not half so sorry as we are," drawled Dave, with a dubious look outside.
Once out upon the lake, a succession of furious gusts swept toward them, accompanied by whirling clouds of fine, needle-like particles. Presently, they were in the thick of it, and found themselves, for the moment, compelled to turn their backs to the storm.
"Whew! This is certainly fierce," panted Dick. "We ought to get there pretty soon, however."
The storm did not increase, as the boys' fears led them to expect. Instead, the fall of snow soon began to lessen, and only where there happened to be irregularities in the ice did the flakes find a resting-place.