"We'll fool 'em, boy.

And we'll fight--if we have to." He began worming his head and shoulders and body into the air-drift like a gimlet.

A foot at a time he burrowed himself through, heaving his body up and down and sideways to pack the light snow, leaving a round tunnel two feet in diameter behind him.

Within an hour he had come to the outer crust on the windward side of the big snow-dune.

He did not break through this crust, which was as tough as crystal-glass, but lay quietly for a time and listened to the sweep of the wind outside.