The two lads raised the younger boy, and half-supporting half-dragging him turned and retraced their footsteps. It was pitch dark now, and they could not see a yard before them. For some time they continued their way. "There is no shepherd's hut. Certainly, this is not the valley. What on earth are we to do?" "I don't know," Tom said, beginning to cry. "Shut up, Tom Jackson. What are you thinking about? This is no time for howling like a baby; you have got to think of what is best to do. It is no use climbing the next hill, for we might be going away from home, instead of getting nearer. Besides, we should have to haul Jimmy up, for he can scarcely stand now; and, although it is bitterly cold here, it would be worse on the top of the hill. No, we have got to step here all night, that is clear." "We shall be dead before morning!" Tom roared. "I will hit you in the eye, Tom Jackson, if you don't shut up; you are as bad as a girl; I am ashamed of you. Now, what we have got to do, is to find some sort of shelter, either a wall or bush, and we must keep on until we come to something. Keep awake, Jimmy; we shan't have much farther to go, and then you can lie down quietly." They went on for a bit. "It is no use," Dick said. "They don't put walls across bottoms; more likely to find one either to the right or left. Now, Tom, you stop here for a minute or two, and I will look about; you keep shouting every minute, so that I can find my way back to you." Turning off, he began to ascend the next hill, and in two or three minutes shouted the glad news to Tom that he had found the wall; then he returned. Jimmy, cheered at the prospect of lying down, made an effort, and they soon reached the wall. Like most of the walls in Derbyshire, it was formed of flat stones laid without mortar, some four feet high. "Now, Tom, set to work; get some stones off the wall on both sides, and build up two other walls against this; three feet wide inside will do, and just long enough to lie in. Here, Jimmy, you help; it will keep you awake, and, you see, the higher we make the walls the snugger it will be; we will have quite a nice house." The boys all set to work, and in half an hour three walls were built. At the point where the two side walls touched the other, they were three feet high, and sloped down to two at the lower end. "Now, Jimmy, you chuck the snow out. Tom and I will go, one each way, along the wall; likely enough we may come upon some bushes--they often grow in shelter of the walls: if we can find a few sticks we will cover the house over. Lots of these stones are a couple of feet long, and we will manage a sort of roof. The snow will soon cover it, and we shall be as warm as possible."