wind howling among the trees,
and vainly striving to force an entrance into their snug retreat.

Nearby Sam had his cache among the lower branches of four spruce trees,
and high enough from the ground to be safe from prowling animals. From
this he brought down some provisions, including a piece of moose meat,
tea, and a little flour. With the latter Kitty baked several bannocks
before the fire, which tasted especially good to Jean after her sole
diet of meat. These were eaten with the honey of wild bees which the
Indians had gathered during the summer.

"These are good," Jean remarked, as she helped herself to a second
bannock. "Where did you get this honey?"

Kitty laughed as she pointed to her husband, who was dragging in
several large sticks.

"Sam get'm last summer. Bees bite Sam, see?" and she put her hands to
her face and neck. "Sam head beeg. Hurt." Again she laughed at the
recollection of her husband's swollen face.

When Sam had finished his task of bringing in the wood, he squatted
before the fire and ate his supper. Then he brought forth a plug of
tobacco, whittled off several slices with his hunting-knife, filled his
blackened pipe, and lighted it with a small brand from the fire. His
wife did the same, and soon the two were smoking in great contentment.
Jean, watching, thought how little it took to satisfy such people.
Their belongings were few, and their places of abode many. She longed
to know more about these two Indians, why they were living apart from
their tribe, and whether they had any children. They must have mingled
with white people, for they readily understood everything she said,
although they themselves spoke in broken English.

She thought of these things the next morning as she and Kitty were
comfortably seated near the fire. The rain had ceased during the
night, the clouds had rolled away, and the ice-laden trees, touched by
the sun, shone and sparkled with surpassing loveliness. It seemed like
fairy-land to Jean when she first looked forth that morning, and she
exclaimed with delight. From the lake to the high peak off toward the
west millions of icy diamonds had caught the bright beams, and were
scintillating their glory far and wide.

"I never saw anything like it" Jean told Kitty. "Have you seen it?"

"A-ha-ha, me see'm," the Indian woman replied without the least sign of
enthusiasm. "Kitty see plenty. Trail bad. Ice heavy. Branch hang
down. Bad. Ugh!"