I made up a string of them with which I could unlock almost every
door in town. In Joyce's, besides groceries and such things, I found a
buffalo overcoat, which I took the liberty of borrowing for the
winter. It was so large for me that it almost touched the ground, but
it was precisely what I needed, and, I think, once saved my life; and
that before long.

I kept at the fortification-work for four days pretty steadily, though
I did not use the best judgment in picking out what to do first. I was
fascinated, boy-like, with the tunnel idea, when, I think, with the
knowledge I then had, it would have been wiser to have paid more
attention to some other things; but, as luck would have it, it all
came out right in the end. I boarded up a few of the windows, but not
many, and did nothing whatever at providing a secret retreat in case
of fire, though I had a plan in mind which I thought was good. Worst
of all, I left the Winchesters about here and there without any
particular attempt at hiding them. But I kept at the tunnel hammer and
tongs.

There were two front windows in the hotel office. At one of these the
snow came only a little above the sill, which was the one where the
wolf had come in; but the other was piled nearly to the top. It was
even higher against the bank front opposite, and at no place in the
street between was it less than four feet deep. Both buildings stood
almost flat on the ground. I took out the lower sash of the window in
the hotel and began work. I made the tunnel something over two feet
wide and about four high, except where the drift was no more than
this, where I did not think it safe to have the tunnel over three feet
high. The snow was packed remarkably hard, and, as it all had to be
carried out through the office in a basket and emptied in the street,
it was slow work. But at last, on Thursday evening, it was done, and
Kaiser and I passed through it; but nothing could induce the cat to
come nearer than the window. I was very proud of my work, and went
through the tunnel twenty times with no object whatever.

The next morning I ought to have gone at other fortification-work, but
instead I thought up the foolish notion that I ought to go out to Bill
Mountain's to see if Pike had got our letter and had left any in
reply. It was Friday, the day before Christmas, and I thought that the
holiday would be more satisfactory if I knew about this; though, to
tell the truth, I had not worried much abou