"Did you ever see this spot before?" asked Shep.

"Not that I can remember," answered his chum. "But I am sure it is not
near the lake."

The young hunters were more alarmed than ever. They felt that they
must be miles from camp. Night was now upon them, and the storm,
instead of clearing away, was growing worse every minute.

"I don't think we can reach camp to-night," said Shep, as bravely as
he could, although his voice trembled slightly. "We'll have to try and
make ourselves as comfortable as possible elsewhere."

"What, right out here in the woods!"

"No, we can hunt for some sort of shelter, Whopper."

"Don't you think we can find the lake? If we once found that we could
keep on along the shore until we struck our camp."

"I don't believe we can locate the lake in this darkness and with the
snow coming down so thickly. Why, look around! You can't see at all!"

Whopper did gaze around, and had to admit that Shep was right. They
were shut in by the storm, which seemed to grow wilder and wilder.

With heavy hearts the boys drew closer to the cliff, as that seemed to
afford some shelter from the wind, which cut like a knife. In the
darkness they stumbled into the hollow and then between two of the