I took off mine also, and using them as spades, we energetically set to work to shovel up the snow until we had got down to the ground, building up a wall with what we had thrown out.  There was just sufficient space to hold three.  We then placed Red Squirrel's shoes on the top, for they were the longest, and Hugh's above them, while with mine we threw up more snow to form a roof.  As soon as we had got thus far, we lowered Hugh into our burrow, that he might be sheltered from the wind, placing the guns beside him.  We then continued throwing up the snow until we had completely surrounded the hole, leaving only a small aperture through which we could crawl in on hands and knees.  We next covered one of my snow-shoes with snow, patted it down until it was like a board, and this served as the door of our burrow.  We had just space sufficient to sit up, or lie down packed close together, for we knew that the smaller its size the warmer it would be, or, rather, the less should feel the cold.