ctor also, and he took a hand and finished the tale in a
manner which took three evenings to tell.

And so New Year's Day came and went, and still they found themselves
housed up with the thermometer continually at fifteen to twenty degrees
below. Once it went down to twenty-six below, and everything fairly
cracked with the cold. To keep from being frozen, one and another stood
guard during the night, that the fire might not go down. During that
time they received but scant news from their neighbors, although the
cabins along the under side of the cliff were less than seventy yards
apart. Nobody cared to venture out, and even opening the door was
something to be considered, although the doctor insisted on having a
little fresh air.

"Providence help the poor chaps who are not well provided for this
winter," said Mr. Portney, one day. "I shouldn't wonder if some of them
are found dead in the spring."

"To be sure," answered the captain. "I looked ter somethin' putty bad
myself, but I didn't expect nuthin' like this. Why, we might jest as
well be a-sittin' on the top o' the North Pole. Hain't been a blessed
streak o' sunshine fer eight days, an' every time it snows the stuff
piles up a foot or so more! It must be nigh on to thirty feet deep in
yonder gulch."

"We'll have to economize with our store before long," put in the doctor.
"Flour is running pretty low. Captain, you'll have to give us less
flap-jacks--they're too toothsome."

"Yes, we'll have to come down to plain bread," said Foster Portney. "And
maybe eat it stale too," he added.

Economizing began that day, after Mr. Portney had taken an account of
the provisions still left to them. Whatever they had must be made to do
for three months yet, and three months meant ninety days, a goodly
number for which to provide.

Slowly the days wore on, every one so much like the others that it
seemed impossible to tell them apart. Sunday was the one day they
observed through it all. On the morning of that the doctor invariably
read a chapter out of the Bible he carried, and one or another of the
rest offered prayer. "It's right an' proper," said the captain, speaking
of this. "We don't want ter live like no heathens, even if we are cast
away in an ocean o' snow!"

February proved the worst month of all. It snowed nearly the whole time,
and it was so dark that they kept the lights lit as long as they dared
to consume the fish oil and the dried fish. During that time