ear
here, depend on it."

The snow continued to fall, but it could not have fallen so thickly as
at first, or it would have covered the ground with a thicker coat than
it appeared to have done. Daylight dawned at last, and Philip woke up.
He was amused by the preparations for a combat made by his brothers, for
he did not believe that the bear would be found. Before going out all
three knelt down and offered up their prayers and thanksgiving for the
protection afforded them. Under no circumstances did they ever omit
that duty. Philip then advised that they should take some breakfast,
that they might be ready for any emergency. Another fish was
accordingly cooked, of which Charley, in spite of his eagerness, was
ready enough to partake. He was hoping all the time that Bruin would
smell the savoury morsel, and would be tempted to return. Probably,
however, he had already had quite enough of their company and mode of
proceeding to wish again to encounter them.

It snowed still, but not the dry, hard snow of the previous evening, and
Philip felt more than ever anxious on account of the warmth of the
weather. Before the sun could have quite risen, rain came, mixed with
the snow, and gradually there was more rain and less snow, till the rain
came down so fast that they were glad to get into their hut for shelter.
They well knew that nothing so rapidly causes ice to become rotten as
does rain. They might be prisoners, therefore, till it had sufficiently
melted to allow of a boat being pushed through it. "But it cannot be
rotten yet," said Harry. "Let us look out for the shore, and, if we can
see it, push across to the nearest point; never mind the rain."

"Agreed."

They crept out of their hut, and worked their way to the shore of the
little island. The land round them across the water was very faint;
still, as they fancied that they could distinguish their own home, and
D'Arcy's clearing, and the settlement, they determined to try to reach
one or the other. The settlement was the nearest, and if they reached
that they might easily find their way home. There was a nominal road,
though scarcely passable, except when covered with snow in winter. They
were debating whether it would be better to attempt to skate or to walk
across the ice.

"We can but pull our skates off if we do not make good progress," said
Philip; so they were sitting down to put them on when Charley exclaimed
that he must have a look for th