The weather, after the skies cleared, had turned cold very rapidly, and the night that followed was very frosty, but the boys, in what they called their house, were snug as could be. The cliff served not only as a wall, but as a roof, and with the fire in the “doorway,” they were well protected. To be sure, the fire did not burn all night, but they kept it up until they were ready to crawl between their blankets. Then they doubled up their beds and slept close together, and though the night was the coldest in all their camping experience, they did not suffer. In the morning it was a short task to build a brisk fire with the stock of dry sticks they had left overnight. Indeed, the fire was more cheerful than the breakfast, for with a temperature that must have been hovering near the zero mark, a cold, dry meal was not very satisfying. Raymond sighed again for hot coffee, and declared that if he ever took such a journey again he would carry a coffee-pot, whatever else he left behind. The boys really felt very little effect from the terrible exposure and fatigue of the previous day. A night’s warm rest, and food that was sufficient in quantity, however unpalatable in quality, had restored them completely. They started out, therefore, with renewed courage, and, as Sidney had predicted, the summit in the morning light seemed very near, as though it were not more than a few hundred yards away. The boys first sought a place where they might climb to the top of the cliff back of their camp, and having gained that, found they were on a ridge that led directly to the summit. Even then, however, it was not an easy climb. The snow, while not so deep as it had been in the ravine, was still too deep for good traveling. The more recently fallen snow had been packed just enough to make it resist a little when they stepped on it, and yet not enough to allow it to support their weight. That made very heavy walking. Over that yielding surface the boys plodded slowly but steadily, and with good cheer. The air was still and the sun shone clear and warm. It was a day very different from the previous one of storms. When they stepped into a depression and were buried to the waist, they did not mind it, but laughed and struggled out. In that way, slowly but surely, they won toward the summit. As they neared the goal their impatience increased until they were ploughing through the snow with breathless haste, panting and puffing with the effort. Then, finally, they stood on the topmost point, and simultaneously their caps flew into the air, and they gave three rousing cheers and a tiger. CHAPTER XVIII FROM MIDWINTER TO MIDSUMMER