hand the blocks down to you as I cut them, and you pile them
regularly along the sides here. As we fill the shelter up you must drive
the dogs back into the tent. We shall want every inch of room for the
snow before we get out."

For hours they worked steadily, taking it by turns to cut and to pile.
The last four feet were much more difficult than the first, the snow,
being lighter and less packed, falling in upon them as they dug. Once
Luka was completely buried, and Godfrey had to haul him back by the
legs. The atmosphere inside, however, improved as they got upwards,
being able to penetrate between the particles of the light snow. It was
six hours before they both struggled out, followed by the dogs in an
impetuous rush. It took them another couple of hours to clear away and
beat down the snow sufficiently to make an easy entrance to the shelter.
A fire was lighted outside and a meal cooked, for the lamps were quite
sufficient to keep the tent sufficiently warm, and they would have been
well-nigh stifled with smoke had they attempted to light the fire in the
shelter. The snow was still falling and drifting, and the sky showed no
signs of change.

"The entrance will fill up again by to-morrow," Luka said, "and we shall
have more trouble than ever to get out."

"We must provide against that, Luka; we must build a sort of roof over
the entrance here, and then we shall only have to start from this point
again. Let us set to work and chop down some poles at once."

After three hours' more work a cover was built over the entrance, and
roofed with pine branches so as to prevent the snow from drifting in.

"Now, Luka, there is one more job, and unfortunately a long one, but we
must do that. We must get the snow that we have packed in the shelter
below out of the way, for if by any chance this passage fell through, we
should have nowhere to pile the snow; besides, we may have another
passage as deep as the present one to dig to-morrow, for the snow is
drifting down in clouds. It has deepened a couple of feet since we began
to make the roof over the entrance."

Luka, who was always ready to work, set to cheerfully, but the short
twilight had faded into deep darkness before the work was completed.

"If we had had a couple of good shovels with us, Luka, we should have
made short work of this," Godfrey said as they retired below into their
tent. "We could do as much work in an hour as one can in five with these
tools. It i