also had the
fireplace and chimney. A small cupboard and shelves had been added. On
the floor were two big deerskins.

But the thing which caught and held the attention of the boys most was a
big bearskin which had been thrown on one of the upper bunks.

"When and where did you get him?" asked Upton eagerly.

"Shot him within less than half a mile of the cabin just before real
cold weather set in," replied Alec. "He was just gettin' ready to den up
for the winter. I misdoot he was the same one that give that young
feller you called Sister the scare the day he was alone here last fall.
Tracked him in a light snow and was lucky enough to see him first.
Regular old he feller, and he sure took some killing. First shot got him
right back of the shoulder and made him squall a plenty, but it didna
stop him. Knew by that that I had hit him and hit him hard, but the way
he beat it you never'd have guessed he was hurt at all. When I see the
blood on the trail I kenned he was hard hit and would no travel far if
left alone, so I sat down and smoked a pipe. Then I took up the trail
and sure enough he had laid down behind a windfall about a quarter of a
mile from where I first see him. The old fox heard me coming and sneaked
away again, but he was getting weak and didna go far before he laid down
again. This time I got another shot and broke his backbone, but at that
it took two more shots to finish him. You ain't never killed a bar till
he's dead. What do you think that feller Ely will say when he gits that
skin?"

"Spud? Is that for Spud? Do you mean to say that you are going to send
that skin to Spud Ely?" cried Walter.

Alec nodded. "I promised him a barskin when he left, and I reckon that
that's hisn. Hope he'll like it."

"Like it! Alec, he'll be tickled silly. He wrote me that you had
promised him one," cried Walter. "It's perfectly bully! Good old Spud! I
wish he could be here with us now to make a little sunshine. Not that we
need it," he hastened to add, "but he sure would enjoy this. I bet he's
green with envy if he knows that we fellows are up here now."

"He knows, all right," Hal broke in. "Wrote him when I first thought of
this trip, but he couldn't get away."

"I wanted to get that skin to him for Christmas, but didn't have a
chance to pack it out," explained Alec. "Guess I'll send it out when you
fellers go. A little old barskin don't begin to pay what I owe that
boy. If it hadn't been for him I'd probably