“I camped here two winters ago,” said John Barrow, as he called a halt.  “I laced up the cedars above and they formed a fust-rate roof.”

“I guess they are pretty well laced still,” observed Dick.  “They seem to hold the snow very well.  But we won’t dare to make a fire in there”

“We’ll build a fire in front, in this hollow, Dick.  That will throw a good deal of hot air into the place, and if we wrap ourselves in our blankets we’ll be warm enough.”

Everyone in the party was anxious to get out of the nipping wind, and they lost no time in entering the “cave,” as Sam called it.  The entrance was low, and by placing the two sleds in an upright position on either side they left an opening not over a yard wide.  Directly in front of this the boys started a roaring fire, cutting down several dwarf cedars for that purpose.

“I don’t much like the looks o’ the sky to-night,” observed John Barrow, after preparing one of the turkeys for cooking.

“Do you think there is a storm coming?” asked Tom.

“Looks to me like snow, an plenty of it.”

“I hope it doesn’t come until we reach Bear Pond,” said Dick, “I don’t want Dan Baxter and his crowd to get ahead of us.”

“They won’t have no better time o’ it than we’ll have,” was the guide’s grim comment.  “Aint no fun trampin’ over the mountains with the snow comin’ down heavily; I can tell you that.”

The wind continued to increase, and after the supper was cooked and brought into the shelter, the guide took it upon himself to bank the fire with great care, that it might not blow into the forest and start a big conflagration.

“We’ve had some terrible fires here,” he said.  “One threatened my barn two years ago, and we had to stay out two days an’ a night a-fightin’ it.  It would be a bad thing a night like this.”

To keep out the cold, Dick crawled to the top of the opening and bound in the cedar limbs closer than ever.  He also got some brush-wood and some vines, and on these placed a thick layer of snow.

“That’s fine!” cried Sam, from below.  “It’s almost as tight as the roof of a cabin.”

Tightening the roof made a big difference inside, and when they had hung up a blanket behind the upright sleds, and placed some cedar brush on the floor, it was very cozy.  They had brought along some candles, and one of these was lit and placed in a lantern which was in one of the packs.  It was not a bright light, but it was better than sitting in the dark, and it seemed to make the shelter warmer than ever.

CHAPTER XVI.

On the wrong trail.

One of the turkeys was finished even to the neck piece, and then both Tom and Sam declared that they were so sleepy they could scarcely keep their eyes open.

“It must be the mountain air,” said Dick.  “I’m sleepy, too.  Let us turn in.”