The trees, which were really two shoots from one root, grew so close together that when 'Duke Radford was pitched in between them he was wedged fast by the force of the impact, while the sledge, coming on behind, bounded on to his prostrate body.

He groaned when Katherine dragged the sledge away, and cried out with the pain when she tried to help him out.
"Did it hurt you so badly?
Oh, I am sorry! But I will be more careful next time," she said; and, stepping carefully backwards after that first vain attempt, she slipped her feet clear of the snowshoes and went closer to the tree, so that she might try to lift him out of the fork by sheer strength of arm.

But the snow was so soft that she sank in over her ankles, going deeper and deeper with every attempt which she made to wriggle herself free.
"This won't do," she said sharply.

"I won't be long, Father dear, but I must pack the snow a bit before I can get firm standing ground." Slipping her father's snowshoes, one of which was broken, from his feet, she took the broken part and proceeded to beat the snow firm all round the trees.

This took perhaps ten minutes, although she worked so hard that she perspired despite the cold.