only safe alternative was to fall back to some secure unexposed
position, and raise a winter camp.

A few miles back, a sheltered position was discovered; the snow was
cleared away, and all working with an earnest will, a commodious hut
was soon erected consisting of strong poles for the frame work, which
were covered with bark, and this again thickly studded with boughs to
keep out the cold. The ground was also strewn with them, for they had
no skins to spread over it, nor even to make themselves a covering
through the night with--a want from which they suffered much. Taking
advantage of their experience the last winter, they collected stone
from beneath the snow, and built themselves a rough but efficient
fire-place, which occupied nearly one side of the hut, and in which
they could build large fires that diffused their genial warmth over the
room without endangering the frail fabric.

Chapter Twentieth.

The cold increases. The men take large quantities of fur. Abundant
supplies of game. Conversation on various matters. Jones and Cole tell
some of their adventures in the gold regions. A boulder of gold.
Shooting it from a precipice. Jones loaded down with riches.
Comfortable condition of the children. Howe describes an adventure he
experienced near Lake Superior by falling into an Indian's deer-pit.
Whirlwind relates a circumstance that occurred to himself and Shognaw
in reference to their escape from the Crows. The party's resignation to
their lot.

As the severity of the winter increased, they took daily hunting
excursions, in order to procure the necessary furs and skins to help
ward off the cold, always preserving their game, which was brought
home, dried and smoked by the fire, to preserve it against an hour of
need. They soon had their hut lined throughout with skins, the edges
joined with sinews or slender strips of hide, which kept the wind from
finding its way to them through the openings. They also covered the
ground with skins, reserving the fur of the foxes and beaver which they
snared, as well as the lighter skins, to make themselves new and warm
clothing. Their food was almost entirely animal, as they rarely
succeeded in getting anything of a vegetable character. They
occasionally found a "nut-pine" tree, from which they gathered its
fruits, but they disliked the taste of them, and gathered them more for
the light they gave when on fire, than for eating. Though they were not
as comfortably