then we shall see about
getting off."

Penellan set the example and devoured his share of the breakfast.
His comrades imitated him, and then drank a cup of boiling
coffee, which somewhat restored their spirits. Then Jean
Cornbutte decided energetically that they should at once set
about devising means of safety.

Andre Vasling now said,--

"If the storm is still raging, which is probable, we must be
buried ten feet under the ice, for we can hear no noise outside."

Penellan looked at Marie, who now understood the truth, and did
not tremble. The helmsman first heated, by the flame of the
spirit, the iron point of his staff, and successfully introduced
it into the four walls of ice, but he could find no issue in
either. Cornbutte then resolved to cut out an opening in the door
itself. The ice was so hard that it was difficult for the knives
to make the least impression on it. The pieces which were cut off
soon encumbered the hut. After working hard for two hours, they
had only hollowed out a space three feet deep.

Some more rapid method, and one which was less likely to demolish
the house, must be thought of; for the farther they advanced the
more violent became the effort to break off the compact ice. It
occurred to Penellan to make use of the chafing-dish to melt the
ice in the direction they wanted. It was a hazardous method, for,
if their imprisonment lasted long, the spirit, of which they had
but little, would be wanting when needed to prepare the meals.
Nevertheless, the idea was welcomed on all hands, and was put in
execution. They first cut a hole three feet deep by one in
diameter, to receive the water which would result from the
melting of the ice; and it was well that they took this
precaution, for the water soon dripped under the action of the
flames, which Penellan moved about under the mass of ice. The
opening widened little by little, but this kind of work could not
be continued long, for the water, covering their clothes,
penetrated to their bodies here and there. Penellan was obliged
to pause in a quarter of an hour, and to withdraw the chafing-dish
in order to dry himself. Misonne then took his place, and worked
sturdily at the task.

In two hours, though the opening was five feet deep, the points
of the staffs could not yet find an issue without.

"It is not possible," said Jean Cornbutte, "that snow could have
fallen in such abundance. It must have been gathered on this
point by the wind.