Then I took a hand with the others in getting up earthworks to complete the circuit of the defence.

It was no easy job, for we wrought only with our knives and had to dig deep down below the snowy gravel.

As we worked I took stock of our refuge.
The _castrol_ was a rough circle about ten yards in diameter, its interior filled with boulders and loose stones, and its parapet about four feet high.

The mist had cleared for a considerable space, and I could see the immediate surroundings.

West, beyond the hollow, was the road we had come, where now the remnants of the pursuit were clustered.
North, the hill fell steeply to the valley bottom, but to the south, after a dip there was a ridge which shut the view.