omes."

This was undoubtedly true, and the boys were vastly relieved to hear it.

"If we only had the matches and provisions here," said Brick. "Then we
would be fixed."

"Yes, we could stand a long siege," assented Jerry. "But we've got to be
up and doing. First, we'll have a bite to eat, and then Hamp can tackle
the tunnel."

The storm still raged with unabated fury, and the stinging cold air
penetrated to the cabin. The boys plugged up the hole, and then sat down
to the scanty repast, which was soon over.

"Now for the tunnel," said Hamp.

He removed the sled and gingerly unbuttoned the flap of canvas from the
doorway.

The others helped him, and as fast as they removed the snow, they poked
it out through the hole above. Finally the excavation was three feet
deep, and high enough to admit Hamp on his hands and knees.

"You'll have to stop removing the snow now," said Jerry. "I can't poke
any more out, for the drift is up over the hole in the wall."

"All right," replied Hamp, cheerfully, as he crawled into the tunnel.
"The snow is so light that I can pack it under me and against the sides.
It's nice and warm in here, fellows, but it's dark as pitch. I wish
there was a little light."

"You'll have to wish," replied Jerry. "You can strike matches on the way
back from the storehouse."

Hamp laughed, and his voice had a hollow, muffled ring.

"Better let me come in and help you," cried Brick.

"No; stay there," responded Hamp. "If two fellows were working, we would
surely have a cave-in. I'm getting along all right."

By this time he was five feet from the cabin. On hands and knees he went
slowly ahead through the intense darkness. He wore stout buckskin
gloves, and carried a slab of bark, with which he patted down the snow
in front of him and slapped it against the sides of the tunnel. He could
hear, as though from a great distance, the ceaseless roar of the
tempest. All was quiet in the cabin, and he dared not call out to his
companions, for fear his voice would bring an avalanche of snow into the
tunnel.

Yet the lad was in a hazardous situation, and to himself he did not
disguise the fact. At any moment might come disaster in the shape of a
cave-in or a falling tree. Then, in the darkness, he would have little
chance of escape.

He worked forward slowly and bravely. He had a definite plan in mind.
Directly out from the cabin door was the fireplace, and two or three
feet to the right of this lay a