WHAT TO DO IF LOST IN THE WOODS 231 



wood, I had lost them. Neither of us smoked, 

 consequently we had no loose matches, although 

 we fumbled all through our pockets just the same. 

 Night had now set in and it was well nigh impos- 

 sible to travel back, besides which we were very 

 tired, so I proposed that we should have 

 something to eat and then try and get a little rest 

 by lying down in the snow. If we found it too 

 cold we were to get up and walk back the best way 

 we could to our camp, which we estimated to be 

 about twenty miles away. We ate some dried 

 smoked beaver and frozen galettes camp made 

 bread for our supper, and then set to work pre- 

 paring our bed. I tramped down a trough in the 

 snow six feet long by about three wide. On the 

 bottom of this we laid a lot of the fine branches 

 we had cut for our camp. Over this we laid half 

 of the shelter tent, then one of our coats, removing 

 our shoes and putting them also under us. Then 

 we both got into the trench, bringing the 

 other half of the cotton over us and piling on 

 snow, up to our waist, using our second coat as 

 an additional covering over our body and shoul- 

 ders. With a branch in one hand I then swept 

 over us as much snow as I could and covered our 

 heads with the cotton, shaking some of the snow 

 over. For a little while it was rather cold, but 

 it soon got more comfortable and we went asleep 

 and to our surprise only woke up at daylight. 

 On the inside surface the snow had melted and 



