“This will delay father,” observed Dave. “The party will have to go into camp and stay there until the storm clears away.” “We may have to go into camp ourselves, Dave.” “Perhaps so. This puts me in mind of the time Sam Barringford and I were journeying to Fort Oswego, and got caught in a terrible storm—the time we got a bear.” “You were after Jean Bevoir then, weren’t you?” “Yes, we thought he had Nell as a prisoner. My, but that was a howler, Henry!” “Well, this is going to be a howler, too! Listen to the wind rising!” There was no need to listen, for they could not have shut out the sound had they tried. The flakes of snow had given way to fine, hard particles resembling salt, and these pelted them in the face until they could not see and had to turn around to catch their breath. “May as well give it up,” said Henry, after struggling along for almost a mile. “Let us find some place under the cedars.” They had reached a spot where the cedars were plentiful, and picked out one with the lower boughs bent down to the ground. Getting under this they were sheltered from the biting wind, and had a chance to rest and consider the situation. “One thing is certain, I don’t want to stay out all night without something to eat and without a fire,” said Henry, who loved all the comforts of a hunter’s life. “We must find a better shelter than this. We can’t start a blaze here without the danger of setting fire to the forest.” “I’m willing to go anywhere, providing it isn’t too far,” answered Dave. Having rested for half an hour they started onward once more. They soon reached a spot that looked familiar to both of them. “Hurrah! I know where we are now!” cried Dave. “So do I, and I know where we can find a pretty good shelter,” added Henry. He referred to what had once been an Indian village, long before the French and English had come to that territory. Here, among the ruins, was located an old council-house, of logs and bark, with a sort of fireplace at one end. “At the old Indian village?” “Yes.” They hurried on, for it was now growing night. Both had their guns over their backs, but presently Henry swung his weapon around to the front. “Maybe we’ll be able to pick up something for supper and breakfast,” he observed. It did not take long to reach the deserted village. Nothing was standing but the old council-house, and that was next to being a wreck. As they stepped over the threshold they saw something hop away through an open doorway on the other side. Quickly Henry blazed away. “A rabbit, and a fat one too!” he cried, holding up the game. “That is better than nothing.” They stirred around and soon found a nest of the animals and killed two more. Then they put down their guns and went out to find some firewood. It was cold work, and they were half frozen by the time they had a blaze started. They piled on several big sticks of wood and soon began to warm up.