empts at
cultivation. Two or three rough buildings of unplaned and unpainted
boards, connected by rambling sheds, stood in the centre of the
amphitheatre. Far from being protected by the encircling rampart, it
seemed to be the selected arena for the combating elements. A whirlwind
from the outer abyss continually filled this cave of AEolus with driving
snow, which, however, melted as it fell, or was quickly whirled away
again.

A few dogs barked and ran out to meet the cavalcade, but there was no
other sign of any life disturbed or concerned at their approach.

"I reckon Hennicker ain't home, or he'd hev been on the lookout afore
this," said the ostler, dismounting and rapping on the door.

After a silence, a female voice, unintelligibly to the others,
apparently had some colloquy with the ostler, who returned to the party.

"Must go in through the kitchin--can't open the door for the wind."

Leaving their horses in the shed, they entered the kitchen, which
communicated, and presently came upon a square room filled with smoke
from a fire of green pine logs. The doors and windows were tightly
fastened; the only air came in through the large-throated chimney in
voluminous gusts, which seemed to make the hollow shell of the apartment
swell and expand to the point of bursting. Despite the stinging of the
resinous smoke, the temperature was grateful to the benumbed travellers.
Several cushionless arm-chairs, such as were used in bar-rooms, two
tables, a sideboard, half bar and half cupboard, and a rocking-chair
comprised the furniture, and a few bear and buffalo skins covered
the floor. Hale sank into one of the arm-chairs, and, with a lazy
satisfaction, partly born of his fatigue and partly from some
newly-discovered appreciative faculty, gazed around the room, and then
at the mistress of the house, with whom the others were talking.

She was tall, gaunt, and withered; in spite of her evident years, her
twisted hair was still dark and full, and her eyes bright and piercing;
her complexion and teeth had long since succumbed to the vitiating
effects of frontier cookery, and her lips were stained with the yellow
juice of a brier-wood pipe she held in her mouth. The ostler had
explained their intrusion, and veiled their character under the vague
epithet of a "hunting party," and was now evidently describing them
personally. In his new-found philosophy the fact that the interest of
his hostess seemed to be excited only by