when they arose next morning the air was much lighter, for it was no longer snowing. breaking their way out after breakfast, aleck and tug climbed to the crest of the hummock above the house, where pretty soon they were joined by katy and jim, anxious to get a look abroad. there was not much satisfaction in this, though. on all sides stretched an unbroken area of white—a spotless expanse of new snow such as you never can see on land, for there was nothing to break the colorless monotony, except where the hummock stretched away right and left, half buried, and as white as the rest, save at a few points where crests of upturned ice-blocks stood above the drifts.
"there is a higher point a little way over there," said aleck to tug; "let's go across, and see if it will show us anything new."
"mayn't we come?" asked jim.
"no, youngster, stay with katy. it would be a useless journey for you, and we'll soon be back."
and off they went, floundering up to their waists much of the time.
"jim," says katy, "i see, just beyond the hut"—pointing in the direction opposite to that in which the lads had gone—"a space under the edge of the hummock where the ice seems pretty clear. understand? and look! don't you see that long, dark line there? i wonder what it can be? let us go and find out. we can get along easily enough after a few steps."
jim strode ahead, and stamped down a path for katy through the snow that lay between their house and the clear space of ice that had been swept by the eddy under the hummock, until, a moment later, they were both running along upon a clean floor towards the object they had seen. now they could make it out clearly; and at the first discovery jim tossed his cap high in the air and gave a hurrah, in which the girl joined, wishing she too had a cap to throw up. what do you suppose it was that had so excited and gladdened them? can't you guess?
a log of wood frozen into the ice!
"now we can have all the fire we want."
"and i can keep the coffee hot for the second cup."
then they looked at one another, and laughed and clapped their hands again. were two children ever before made so happy by the simple finding of a log?
just then they heard aleck's voice:
"hallo-o-o! where are you?"
jim jumped up, and was about to shout back, but his sister threw her hand over his mouth.
"stop, jimkin! let them look for us, and have the fun of being surprised by our great discovery."
so both kept quiet, and let the boys shout. by and by they saw their heads bobbing over the drift, and presently tug came running towards them, with aleck close behind.
"why didn't you answer? didn't you hear us? hello! whoop—la! wood, or i'm a dutchman!" and all echoed his wild shout, and tried to imitate his dance, until the joy was bumped out of them by sudden falls on the slippery ice.
it was a tree trunk of oak, that had been floating about, frozen into the ice, above the surface of which fully half of it was to be seen. the stubs of the roots were towards them, while the upper end of the tree, which had been a large one, was lost in a drift more than forty feet distant.
"there is enough good wood here," said aleck, "to keep us warm for two months, if we don't waste it; and we ought to be very thankful."
"then let's have a fire right away!" jim exclaimed.
"all right, youngster," was the captain's response. "fetch the axe, and we'll soon light up."
when jim had disappeared, katy asked her brother what he had seen.
"nothing," was the reply. "and it would just be impossible to move half a mile a day in this snow. it's one of the deepest falls i ever saw. we've got to stay here, for all i see, till it melts, or crusts over, or blows away, or something else happens."
"well, we have plenty of fuel now."
"yes, but we can't live on oak—though we might on acorns. but here comes jimkin. let's say no more about it now, katy."
as the chips flew under tug's blows, katy gathered an armful, and hastened back to kindle a fire, while jim and aleck busied themselves in clearing a good path, and in hauling the hand-sled from under the boat, where it had been jammed into the drift out of the way. by the time it was ready tug had chopped a sled-load of wood, and they hauled it to the house. it had been very awkward climbing over their wall of boxes, but they had been afraid to move any part of it, for fear of throwing down the snow which had banked it up and made the place so tight and warm. however, there was one box which must shortly be opened in order to get at more provisions; so it was carefully moved, and the wood piled in its place, leaving a low archway underneath, through which they could crawl on their hands and knees.
"that's just like an igloo," said katy.
"what's an 'igloo'?"
"an eskimo house made of frozen snow, in the shape of a dome, and entered by a low door, just like this one. by the way, are you getting hungry?"
"yes; bring us something to eat."
they went back to their chopping. pretty soon katy came running out, bringing some crackers, a little hard cheese, and the last small jar of jelly—"just for a taste," she explained. then she broke out with her story:
"oh, boys, there's a whole lot of little birds—white and brown—around the house. they seem to like to get near the smoke. i'm going to throw out some crumbs."
"yes, do," said tug, eagerly, "and i'll get my gun."
"what? to shoot them! oh, no."
"but they will make good eating."
"ye-e-s, i suppose so," agreed the kind-hearted girl; "but i hate to have them shot."
"it's hard, i know," aleck said, sympathizing more with his sister than with the birds, i fear; "but we need everything we can get. it may be a great piece of good-fortune that they have come, and—hold up, tug; aren't you afraid if you shoot at them they will be scared away for good?"
"no fear of that," was the answer; "and we have no other way. come along, katy, and keep rex quiet."
luncheon was stuffed in their pockets, and all hastened towards the house.
there they still were—several flocks of birds resembling sparrows, but larger than any common sparrow, and white; so white, in fact, that they could only be seen at all against the snow by glimpses of a few brown and black feathers on their backs. in each flock, however, there were one or two of a different sort, easily distinguishable by their darker plumage and rusty brown heads. tug said they were lapland longspurs, and had pretty much the same habits as their numerous associates. the whole flock of birds was very restless, constantly rising and settling, but showed no disposition to go away, and took little alarm at the four figures that stealthily approached.
"what are they?" whispered aleck to tug.
"white snow-flakes, or snow-buntings," he whispered back. "mighty good eating."
creeping quietly into the house, tug took his shot-gun out of the boat and hastily loaded it, but with great care to see that the priming was well up in the nipple and a good cap on. then he slung over his shoulders his shot-pouch and powder-horn—a short, black, well-polished horn of buffalo, of which he was very proud, for it had been a curiosity in monore—and begged them all to stay in the house and let him alone, unless he called to them, and, above all, to keep the dog inside.
this said, he crawled forward out of the low doorway, holding his gun well in front of him, and the other three sat down to wait for the result.
scarcely a minute had passed before a sharp report was heard, and a little thud upon the canvas roof. at this sound rex leaped up, and was greatly excited. his ears were raised, his eyes flashed, and he gave several short, quick barks. but aleck had twisted his fingers in the dog's mane, and forced him to drop down and keep quiet.
very soon afterwards there rang out a second report, and again, after time enough to reload, a third. then the sportsman's voice was heard calling, and all ran out to see how many he had bagged.
