Every inch added to the thickness made the work of sawing harder--at two cents a cake.

So we stuck to it, and worked away in that cruel wind.
On Thursday it got so cold that if we stopped the saws even for two seconds, they froze in hard and fast, and had to be cut out with an ax; thus two cakes would be spoiled.

It was not easy to keep the saws going fast enough not to catch and freeze in; and the cakes had to be hauled out the moment they were sawed, or they would freeze on again.

Moreover, the patch of open water that we uncovered froze over in a few minutes, and had to be cleared a dozen times a day.

During those nights it froze five inches thick, and filled with snowdrift, all of which had to be cleared out every morning.
Although we had our caps pulled down over our ears and heavy mittens on, and wore all the clothes we could possibly work in, it yet seemed at times that freeze we must--especially toward night, when we grew tired from the hard work of sawing so long and so fast.