idge-pole, and innumerable branches, great and small, serving at once
for walls and supports. Having rescued their newly made snow-shoes and
brought them, with their other property, into this place of refuge, they
sat or reclined on their deerskins to await the end of the storm. This
event did not, however, seem to be near. Hour after hour they sat,
scarcely able to converse because of the noise, and quite unable to
kindle a fire. Towards evening, however, the wind veered round a
little, and a hill close to their camp sheltered them from its direct
force. At the same time, an eddy in the gale piled up the snow on the
fallen tree, till it almost buried them; converting their refuge into a
sort of snow-hut, with a branchy framework inside. This change also
permitted them to light a small fire and cook some venison, so that they
made a sudden bound from a state of great discomfort and depression, to
one of considerable comfort and hilarity.

"A wonderful change," observed Trench, looking round the now ruddy walls
of their curious dwelling with great satisfaction. "About the quickest
built house on record, I should think--and the strongest."

"Yes, daddy, and built under the worst of circumstances too. What
puzzles me is that such a tree should have given way at all."

"Don't you see, Olly," said Paul, "that some of its roots are hollow,
rotten at the core?"

"Ah! boy--same with men as trees," remarked the captain, moralising.
"Rotten at the core--sure to come down, sooner or later. Lay that to
heart, Olly."

"If ever I do come down, daddy, I hope it won't be with so much noise.
Why, it went off like a cannon."

"A cannon!" echoed the captain. "More like as if the main-mast o' the
world had gone by the board!"

"What if the gale should last a week?" asked Olly.

"Then we shall have to stay here a week," returned Hendrick; "but
there's no fear of that. The fiercer the gale the sooner the calm. It
won't delay us long."

The hunter was right. The day following found the party _en route_,
with a clear sky, bright sun, and sharp calm air. But the art of
snow-shoe walking, though easy enough, is not learned in an hour.

"They're clumsy things to look at--more like small boats flattened than
anything else," remarked the captain, when Hendrick had fastened the
strange but indispensable instruments on his feet--as he had already
fastened those of the other two.

"Now look at me," said Hendrick. "I'll take