be a good thing," Tom said, "to get a lot of these inside. They
would come in very handy to throw at an enemy, eh?"

"That they would," said Frank.

Well, it took them three whole days to make and fix up a gate, which they
could raise or lower before the entrance by means of ropes made out of
long trailing weeds, or creepers.

Then, after they had carried about a hundred big stones inside, they
began to feel happier and safer.

CHAPTER VII

One morning, a month or two after this, the Crusoes awoke to find that
the sun rose that day for the last time, and, until spring should return,
they would see his golden beams no more.

But there was a bright and beautiful twilight every mid-day for two weeks
longer. Then they knew that the long, dreary Arctic night had come in
earnest. For about a month the Crusoes had been eating very heartily
every day and were getting quite fat. It was the same with the animals.

Flossy had long ago lost her puppy coat, and was now a bonny
whitish-yellow seal, not very large, and with a black saddle on her back.
But Flossy got drowsy too, and if the boys had not stirred her up every
day, and sent her off to catch fish, I believe she would have slept
nearly all the time.

Even the boys felt sleepy, though they could not tell why. Said Tom one
day to Frank as they sat playing draughts on a rough board, with nuts for
men: "Frank, old man, by this time all the bears will have gone into
winter quarters. They won't come out much until the sun returns."

"Fancy," cried Aralia, clapping her hands, "Fancy all of us sleeping all
night long--three months, didn't you say, Tom? Wouldn't it be nice? And
if Uncle Staysail should come in to wake us in the morning! 'Get up,' he
would say, 'are you going to sleep all day?'"

They all laughed at the idea, but it was not carried out. Besides the
candles, which they only burned at supper and after, they had torches
made of wood which they could burn at any time. Moreover, there was the
light of the camp fire, which they kept always burning, for they had laid
in a vast store of peat and wood.

* * * * *

Tom was time-keeper. He had a little log-book in which he had been
careful to note down day and date every morning, and, like a good lad, he
never forgot to wind his watch. He made a really first-class Crusoe.

But they were all good. And what a grand guard Briton was! If ever he
heard the slightest sound of bird