shelter of the drift-covered
bowlder he could not have kept upon his feet. The air was so filled with
driving snow as to be suffocating. A tremendous sea was running and
great waves were pounding and breaking upon the rocks with terrific
roar, though no glimpse of them could he get through the snow clouds
that enveloped him.

There was nothing to be done but to return to his burrow and make
himself as comfortable as circumstances would permit. His first care
was to clear away the snow which he had thrown back under the boat as
he dug his way out, and which partially filled his cave. And when this
was done he selected a sharp stick and with it made three or four air
holes in the roof of the drift above his door, to furnish ventilation,
for it was not long before the entrance of the passageway was again
closed.

Bobby was very hungry, as every healthy boy the world over is sure to be
when he rises in the morning, and when he had completed the ventilation
of his cave to his satisfaction he proceeded to make a small fire over
which to grill one of his birds, never doubting the smoke would pass out
of the ventilating holes that he had made through the top of the drift.
But to his chagrin the smoke did not rise and was presently so thick as
to blind and choke him, and he found it necessary to put the fire out.
And so it came about that in the end he had to content himself with
eating his sea pigeon uncooked, which after all was no great hardship.

All that day and all the next day the storm continued and Bobby was held
prisoner in his cave, and he was thankful enough that he had the cave to
shelter him.

When he awoke, however, on the morning of the third day of his
captivity, and forced his way out of doors, he was met by sunshine and
his heart bounded with joy. It was only behind bowlders and the clumps
of bushes scattered here and there, and in sheltered corners where
drifts had formed, that snow remained upon the island. Elsewhere the
wind had swept the rocks clean.

The gale that had racked the world had passed, but a brisk breeze was
blowing down from the north, sharp with winter cold. The sea, too, had
subsided, though even yet big rollers were driving and pounding upon the
rocky shore.

"Now," said Bobby, "with the first calm night, when the water quiets
down, the bay will freeze, and then I can walk in on the ice. But
they'll have to hurry in from the seal hunt or they'll be caught out
there and won't be abl