l backward each time with
the snow that the one at work passed back to him. At last the tunnel was
driven twelve feet long, and the last four feet it had been given an
upward direction, by which means less snow had to be removed than would
have been the case had the bottom remained level with the ground and the
height been increased.

"We are a good twelve feet in now, Luka, and certainly high enough.
Which way do you think we had better try?"

Luka replied by calling one of the dogs and taking it with him to the
end of the tunnel. The animal at once began to snuff about eagerly, and
then to scratch violently to the right.

"That will do," Luka said, pushing it back past him and taking its
place. He had driven but a foot in the direction in which the dog was
scratching when the hatchet struck something hard. It required some care
to dig round the meat and make a hole large enough for Luka to stand up
beside it and cut the cord by which it hung. The dogs yelped with joy
when he dragged it back to the other end of the passage. The fire was
made now in the passage under the roof they had made at the end of the
first day's work, for outside the snow fell so fast that it damped the
fire greatly, and as the smoke made its way out through the entrance it
was no inconvenience to them below. A good-sized piece of raw meat was
chopped off and given to each of the dogs. The ramrod was thrust through
another large piece and held by Luka over the fire, and then Godfrey
carried the rest of the joint outside and placed it in the fork of a
tree.

"It smells good, Luka," he said as he returned to the fire; "I wish it
would attract a bear."

Luka shook his head. "Bears are asleep, Godfrey; they are hunted in
summer, and sometimes they may be found in the early part of the winter,
but never when the snow is deep; they would die of hunger. There might
be wolves, but we don't want them. Wolf skins fetch very little, and
their flesh is only good for the dogs; we don't want wolves, but we must
be on our guard. In such weather as this food is very scarce. They
might come and attack us. Yesterday I heard howls once or twice. I think
when we have done breakfast it will be better to take that meat down
below."

"Why, they wouldn't smell it as much as this cooked meat, Luka."

"No, I was not thinking of that, but if they come we may want it."

"You mean they might besiege us, Luka?"

"Yes, shut us up here. Wolves very patient; wait a lo