"How did you manage, captain?" Charlie asked.

"We went to the house of a well-to-do peasant, about a mile from
the borders of the wood. I told him frankly that we belonged to a
band who were going to winter in the forest, that we would do him
no harm if he would give us his aid, but that if he refused he
would soon have his place burnt over his head. As we said we were
ready to pay a fair sum for the hire of his cart, he did not
hesitate a moment about making the choice. The other two remained
at his cottage, so as to keep his family as hostages for his good
faith, and I went with him to the town, where we bought six sacks
of good flour and the two barrels of spirits. We got a few other
things--cooking pots and horns, and a lot of coarse blankets, and a
thick sheepskin coat for each man. They are all in the car. I see
that you have got the hut pretty nearly roofed in, so, in a day or
two, we shall be comfortable."

They went in a body to the place where the cart had been left, but
it required two journeys before its contents were all transported
to the hut. Another three days and this was completed. It was
roughly built of logs, the interstices being filled in with moss.
There was no attempt at a door, an opening being left four feet
high and eighteen inches wide for the purpose of an entry. The skin
of a deer they had shot, since they arrived, was hung up outside;
and a folded rug inside. There was no occasion for windows. A
certain amount of light made its way in by an orifice, a foot
square, that had been left in the roof for the escape of smoke. The
hut itself consisted of one room only, about eighteen feet square.

When this was finished, all hands set to work to pile up a great
stack of firewood, close to the door, so as to save them from the
necessity of going far, until snow had ceased falling, and winter
had set in in earnest.

The cart had brought six carcasses of sheep, that had been
purchased from a peasant; these were hung up outside the hut to
freeze hard, and the meat was eaten only once a day, as it would be
impossible to obtain a fresh supply, until the weather became
settled enough to admit of their hunting.

The preparations were but just finished when the snow began to fall
heavily. For a week it came down without intermission, the wind
howled among the trees, and even Charlie, half stifled as he was by
the smoke, felt no inclination to stir out, except for half an
hour's work to clear aw