They could have progressed more rapidly, but for the fact that the wind blew much of the snow back into the trench they were cutting through the great banks of white stuff.
"Are we going to make it ?" asked Dave dubiously at last.
"We've got to," Dick retorted.
"The other fellows ought to come out and help us," proposed Greg.
"That's not a very bad idea, either," Dick agreed, as he started shoveling once more.

"Greg, go back and tell them what we want." Prescott and Darrin went on shoveling, manfully, until Tom, Dan and Harry came wallowing along over what there was of a path and took the shovels.
After that, with twenty minute shifts, the work went along more rapidly, though once in a while one of the shovelers had to go back over the path, digging out where more snow had blown in.
Hen Dutcher was not asked to share in this strenuous work.

He had enough to do in the cabin, and this outdoor performance was no work, anyway, for a whiner.
"Get the axe and some of the buckets," called Dick finally, as he, at the head of a shift, reached and located the spring.

The water was, of course, covered with a thick armor of ice.

Greg moved into position with the axe, striking fast and hard.