"The dogs enjoyed being out once more and lapped the water greedily while we filled the buckets. We worked several hours taking wood from outside the hut and piling it up on our depleted stack inside. Long before we were done, I heard a distant howling, and looked toward Hal for its meaning.
"'Wolves! They scent our meat,' he said laconically.
"We managed to fasten our door again, and sat down by the fire while the dogs went over to their corner to sleep.
"That night the thermometer dropped to thirty degrees below zero and stayed there for a week. Everything that could froze up solid, and the wild beasts could catch no more fish or small game, so took long jaunts away from their lairs to find food.
"Inside of forty-eight hours I heard every kind of a growl and howl imaginable, as bears prowled about the hut sniffing at the buried food, or scratching at our hut to get in.
"'Wish we could get some of 'em in the traps,' I said.
"'They'd be torn to pieces and soon et up by the other wild beasts,' replied Hal, as he made another notch in a log where he was keeping record of the days.
"It wasn't very pleasant that week, for the room was small, and the dogs and meat began to make the air reek, so we were mighty glad, one morning, to wake and find it warmer. Without delay, Hal and I chopped the door out of the ice and snow and got out, followed by the dogs. The air was still so cold that it felt like a knife going through my lungs, but it was sweet and fresh. The dogs, too, were glad to have a run.
"The only thing to mark the hut from the other humps of snow round about was the dirty spot where the smoke came out. While we aired the room we cleaned up whatever débris lay about and filled the pails with some ice that Hal chopped out of the frozen stream.
"Meantime, the dogs were scenting about in the drifts and growling and yelping. Hal looked up and saw that they were off following some tracks. He ran after them for a few rods and then came back, calling them to come in.
"'Those were bear tracks,' he explained, as the dogs obeyed most unwillingly. 'I wish I had some way to trap them without having the fur ruined by other animals.'
"'Couldn't you set a trap right in range with the chink of the door, and if you hear other animals about you can shoot them,' I said.