t."

"Earl and I were used to pretty tough weather up in the Maine woods, as
you know," replied Randy. "I guess an out-and-out city chap would freeze
stiff before he had been here a week. The thermometer was down to six
below zero this morning."

The cold had cut off their water supply, and every drop for drinking or
cooking had to be obtained by melting ice on the stove. To keep them in
fuel, all hands spent four days up in the woods cutting timber, which
was allowed to dry out for two weeks, and was then hauled over to the
edge of the cliff and tumbled down to a spot between their cabin and
that of their nearest neighbor, two hundred feet away.

By Foster Portney's advice another trip was made by him and Earl to the
Yukon River in search of fish for winter use, for fish could now be kept
by simply being frozen in a chunk of ice and laid away. The two found
the ice on the Yukon over two feet thick, and had to cut fishing-holes
with an axe they had brought along for that purpose. They spent a day on
the river, fishing and spearing, and were rewarded with a catch of over
fifty pounds. Earl had brought the shot-gun, and to the fish were added
a dozen small sea-fowl, which were caught on the wing while flying
southward.

"We had better be getting back," observed Foster Portney, early on the
following morning. "Unless I am greatly mistaken we shall have a heavy
fall of snow by to-night."

As they did not wish to be caught in a storm, they started on the return
to the gulch as rapidly as their loads would permit. They were still in
the woods when the first flakes began to fall. With the coming of the
snow the wind began to rise, shaking the bare limbs above them savagely
and causing a lively tumble of dead branches on every side. Not to
become stormbound, they increased their pace, reaching the lower end of
the gulch by six o'clock in the evening. They could hardly see before
them, so thickly did the flakes come down, and both considered
themselves fortunate in having struck familiar ground. By the time the
cabin was reached the snow was six inches deep.

"We thought you'd be snowed under!" cried Randy, as he opened the door
to let them in. He had been watching anxiously since the snow began to
fall. "It's going to be an awful night."

He was right; it was an awful night--more so than any of them had
anticipated. After a hot supper they retired to their bunks to sleep,
only to be aroused about midnight by the roar of