attentively. He was not a man of many words.

"That's 'um," said he, pointing with his chin to some tall, straight
fir-trees, up to which he had led us. We saw also that a considerable
number of the same description grew in the neighbourhood.

"I suppose, then, we may call a halt?" said I.

Nobs nodded. We had been told that he would show us how to build some
huts for sheltering our party.

"Some on you with axes come along," said he, turning to the men, and
away he trudged till we reached a clump of graceful, white-stemmed
birch-trees. Scoring down the stems, he quickly ripped off huge sheets
of bark, some five and six feet long, and two and three broad. The men
followed his example, and we soon had as much as the whole party could
carry.

"Stay, that won't do alone," observed Nobs; and he commenced cutting
some thin poles, seven or eight feet long, from saplings growing in the
neighbourhood. With these we returned to the spot we had fixed on for
an encampment. Scarcely uttering a word, having got some men to assist
him, he erected a framework of a cone-shape, with about eight of the
poles, fastening the upper ends together with a piece of rope. He then
covered the framework with sheets of bark, leaving a doorway and a small
space open at the top.

"There you have an Indian wigwam," said he.

From the pattern he had thus formed, the men very soon erected wigwams
enough to shelter the whole party. He then collected some dried wood,
of which there was an abundance about, and lighted a fire in the middle
of his hut. The hole left at the top of it allowed the smoke to escape.
The snow, which had first been cleared away in the interior, was
piled-up round the hut outside, and the ground was then beaten hard. He
showed us how to make our couches of dried leaves; and at night, wrapped
in our blankets lying round the fire, we found that we could sleep most
luxuriously.

Having thus speedily made all these necessary arrangements, we set to
work to select the trees fit for our purpose. As soon as we had fixed
on them, Nobs threw off all his outer clothing, and with his gleaming
axe began chopping away like a true backwoodsman at one of the largest
of the trees. The carpenter's crew followed his example. The air was
so calm that while the men were actively employed they felt not the
slightest sensation of cold. The moment they ceased, however we made
them put on their clothing.

Nobs was thoroughly verse