He seized hold of the sled rope and began to pull, the others joining him. There was no choice of direction, so they turned to get the wind on their backs. With grim perseverance they kept on. The wind seemed fairly to carry them forward, though it was hard to struggle through the drifts they encountered every once in a while. As they had no particular path to take, they avoided the big hummocks of snow as much as they could. "I'll have to stop!" declared Fenn, after a bit of hard pulling. "My wind's giving out!" "I wish the wind up above would," murmured Bart as he tried to peer through the clouds of flakes to see where they were. "Let's stay here," suggested Fenn. "If we've got to camp in the storm this place is as good as any." "That's what I say," remarked Frank. "This seems to be well sheltered." There came a momentary let-up to the gale. The snow did not seem to fall so thickly and the boys eagerly looked around them. "There's something over that way!" cried Ned, pointing to the left. "It looked like a barn or house. Let's try for it!" Then the wind swept down on them again, blotting out, in the swirl of flakes, whatever Ned had seen. But he had an idea of the direction it was in, and started off toward it. "Here, come back and help pull the sled!" cried Bart, and the four boys, led by Ned, dragged the heavy load toward the spot where the building had been noticed. They did not see it again until they were within ten feet of it, and then made out a lonely cabin in the midst of a clearing in the woods. The snow was half way up to the first floor window sills. "There's some one inside!" shouted Bart, as he saw smoke curling from the chimney. "Knock on the door! I'm half frozen!" But there was no need to knock. The door was opened and a little girl peered out. "Can we come in and get warm?" asked Ned. "We're lost in the storm." "Who is it?" asked a woman's voice, as she came to the door. "We were camping out," explained Bart, "and the storm caught us as we were about to go home. We live in Darewell." "Come in!" the woman exclaimed. "Our cabin is poor enough but it is better than the woods in such a storm. I'm sorry we can't offer you anything to eat, but we have only a little for ourselves and there's no telling when we'll get more." "And to-morrow's Thanksgiving," murmured Ned in a low voice. The boys stamped the snow from their feet and entered the cabin. There were two rooms downstairs and two up. In the apartment they entered was a stove in which a wood fire burned. In one corner stood a table with a few dishes on it, and there was a cupboard. Some chairs completed the furnishings. Close to the fire, clad in a ragged dress, sat a little girl. The boys needed but one glance to see that the family was in dire straits.