Fortunately, the tin plates made very respectable shovels, although using them nearly broke their backs. However, in the course of half an hour a space about six feet square in front of the hut was cleared, the snow being banked up all around, with the idea of later on building a snowhouse. “The heat from the fire will make the snow pack better,” said Harry. “Now for breakfast. I am as hungry as a bear!” “I’m as hungry as two bears, and I can’t bear my hunger any longer,” said Boxy. “That’s a bare kind of a joke,” grinned Andy. There was a general laugh. Pickles lit the fire, which roared and leaped in the wind. The smell of broiling venison soon put every one in good humor. It had ceased snowing, but the sky was still dark and threatening. “We’ll have more by night, mark my words,” said Jack. “It has really just started.” After breakfast the boys hunted up some long sticks, and to one end of each they either nailed a flat board whittled from a split-up log or bound a mass of stout twigs. “Now we have both shovels and brooms,” cried Jack. “Whoop, now, it’s workin’ on de corporation, Oi am, do ye moind!” he went on, strutting around with one of the brooms on his shoulder. “Well, I hope you work a bit faster than street men usually do,” returned Harry. “If you don’t, we won’t have much done by nightfall.” “Oi’ll outdo yez all, so Oi will,” exclaimed Jack, and he sailed in with a vigor that left no doubt that he meant what he said. The first work was to enlarge the circle outside of the doorway. This accomplished, Harry, Jack and Andy started to build the snowhouse, while Boxy and Pickles climbed up to get the snow from the roof of the hut, thus relieving them of any anxiety concerning the top of their domicile caving in. It was no easy matter to build a snowhouse about the fire, but the boys worked with a will, and by three o’clock in the afternoon the task was finished. The walls of the new structure rose nearly ten feet, and were three feet thick. The entrance to it was from the hut, and a narrow passageway which led toward the creek. The top was roofed over, except in the center, which was left open to let the smoke from the fire escape. “I don’t know if that is going to last or not,” said Harry. “But we can try it anyway.” “It will last if it remains cold,” returned Jack. “But if it gets milder, and the fire blazes up too hotly we’ll have to ‘stand from under,’ as the saying is.” “I don’t believe it is going to get any milder just yet. If anything, the thermometer is going down steadily.” “That is because it is going toward evening. But we’ll know more about it in the morning. One thing is certain: hunting is knocked endways for a day or two.”