Returning in haste to the hall, he handed a much dilapidated iron shovel
to Frank, who threw off his coat and set to work with vigour. The
tables and chairs, and all the furniture, were removed into the inner
apartments, in order to afford room for the snow which Frank dug from
the open doorway and shovelled into the centre of the room. As only one
at a time could work in the narrow doorway, the three men wrought with
the shovel by turns; and while one was digging the tunnel, the other two
piled the debris in a compact mound beside the stove. As no fire had
yet been kindled, the snow, of course, did not melt, but remained crisp
and dry upon the floor. Meanwhile Edith looked on with deep interest,
and occasionally assisted in piling the snow; while her mother, seeing
that her presence was unnecessary, retired to her own room.

"There," cried Frank, pausing and surveying an immense cavern which he
had dug into the drift, "that's a good spell. Take a turn now, La
Roche, and dig upwards; we should see daylight soon."

"Ah, vraiment, it be time, for it am von o'clock," replied La Roche, as
he plied the shovel.

The tunnel was cut in such a way as that, while it ran outwards, it also
sloped upwards; and, from the angle at which it lay, Stanley calculated
that thirty feet or thereabouts would bring them to the surface. In
this he was correct, for when La Roche had worked for half an hour, the
snow above became slightly luminous. But the labour of conveying it
from the end of the tunnel into the hall became, of course, greater as
the work advanced. At length the light penetrated so clearly that La
Roche was induced to thrust his shovel upwards, in the expectation of
penetrating the mass. The effect of this action was striking and
unexpected. Instantly the roof fell in, and a flood of sunshine poured
into the tunnel, revealing the luckless Frenchman struggling amid the
ruins.

"Oh, pull me hout!" he spluttered, as Frank and Stanley stood laughing
heartily at his misfortune. One of his legs happened to protrude from
the mass as he made this earnest request; so Frank seized it, and
dragged the poor man by main force from his uncomfortable position.
Immediately afterwards they all three scrambled through the aperture,
and stood in open day.

The sight that met their eyes was a curious though not a satisfactory
one. All that remained visible of Fort Chimo were, as we have said, the
chimneys and the flagstaff. In re