"I have my brother with me," said Rowdy, plunging on to the right.
The snow beat into their faces and eyes, almost blinding them and wholly stopping their chatter. Above their heads the huge trees rocked, limbs writhing as though they were alive and in pain. And from these writhing limbs the snow was shaken down in avalanches.
One great blob of snow fell square on Sammy, trudging on behind the procession, and he went down with a howl like a wolf, buried to his ears.
"Oh, Sammy! Sammy!" shrieked Tess, above the wind. "Are you hurt?"
"I--I'm smothered!" groaned the boy, struggling to get out of the heap of snow. "Hey, you Rowdy! Get us out of this, or we'll be buried and lost."
"Come on!" sang out the bigger boy from up ahead. "O-ee! Rafe!" he shouted.
A figure appeared before them--the figure of a boy not much bigger than Rowdy.
"What have you there?" a hoarse voice demanded.
"I mean who are those behind you?" and the hoarse voice was very tart now.
"A couple of girls and a boy," said Rowdy. "I picked 'em up back there by the trap."
"Well! But we don't keep a hotel," said the second boy.
"Hush!" commanded Rowdy. "Where are your manners? And they come from the Lodge," he added.
"How are we going to feed so many people?" was the rather selfish demand of the second boy from the cave.
"Mercy! you're a regular pig, Rafe," exclaimed Rowdy. "Go on. Take this rabbit. I'll help the little girl. She's almost done for."
Dot Kenway really was breathless and almost exhausted. She was glad to be taken in the strong arms of Rowdy. He staggered along behind the one called Rafe, and so came to an opening behind a bowlder which seemed to have been rolled by nature against the hillside.
The hole was sheltered from the direct effect of the wind that was drifting the snow in a huge mound against the bowlder. Rafe, with the rabbit, dived first into the hole. Rowdy followed, with Dot in his arms.
"Oh! Oh!" cried the littlest girl with delight. "Here's a fire."
"Isn't that splendid?" demanded Tess, who came next and saw the blaze at the back of the cave, between two stones. "Why! what a nice cave you've got here."
The fire lit up the cave, for it was only about a dozen feet square. Only, it was not really square, being of a circular shape at the back. The smoke from the fire rose straight up and disappeared through a hole in the low roof through which there must have been considerable draught.