ive tongue. "Come, we will
try to reach it before it is too late."

Amid the howling of the wind and the swirling of the snow, the horses
and sleigh were turned partly around, and they struck off on a side
trail, leading up the mountain. On and on they toiled, a distance of
perhaps five hundred feet, although to the boys it seemed a mile or
more. The wind was so strong it fairly took their breath away, and the
snow all but blinded them. They had to walk, for it was all the double
team could do to drag the turnout over the rough rocks and through the
snow. Once Dave slipped, bumped against the Englishman, and both rolled
downward a distance of several yards.

"Excuse me!" panted the young American. "My feet went up before I was
aware."

"Don't mention it, my lad," was the gasped-out answer. "I fancy we're
all doing the best we can."

Presently, through the driving snow, came the sight of a high, rocky
wall. The sleigh driver halted and warned the others to do likewise.

"He says there is a pocket at the base of the cliff and we must be
careful that we don't fall in it," said Granbury Lapham. "Let us wait
until he makes certain it is perfectly safe."

In a few minutes Hendrik, having gone forward, came back and led the
horses closer to the rocky wall, which towered over their heads a
distance of a hundred feet or more. Toward the base the wall receded
about a rod, so that the overhanging portion afforded a little shelter
below. Outside of this shelter was a drift of snow as high as their
heads, and the travelers had not a little trouble in getting through it.

"Well, this is certainly better than nothing," remarked Dave, as he
shook the snow from his garments. "So long as the wind comes from down
the mountain we'll be safe enough."

Hendrik proved a practical fellow in the emergency. He found a spot
where some small rocks outside of the cliff set up something of a
barrier in front. Then he unhitched the horses, took the outfit from the
sleigh, and turned the sleigh upon its side. Not content with this, he
found some fir saplings, cut them down with an axe he carried, and on
them spread out the lap-robes. By the time he had finished they had
quite a shelter from the wind and cold.

"Make a little fire now," he said, to the Englishman. "But be very
careful that the forest does not catch." And then he explained that to
allow the forest to burn in Norway was a prison offence.

"It's an outrage to burn down a fores