hich Boyd stitched together
closely and firmly. Then they cut out a small doorway, which they could
enter by stooping. The floor was of poles, made smooth and soft with a
covering of dead leaves.

It was rude and primitive, but Will saw at once that in need it would
protect both their stores and themselves.

"I learned that from the Sioux long ago," said Boyd, not without some
admiration of his handiwork. "It's close and hot, and after we've put
the stores in we'll have to tuck ourselves away in the last space left.
But it will feel mighty good in a storm."

The second night after the wickiup was finished his words came true. A
great storm gathered in the southwest, the first that Will had seen in
the high mountains, and it was a tremendous and terrifying manifestation
of nature.

The mountains fairly shook with the explosions of thunder, and the play
of lightning was dazzling on the ridges. When thunder and lightning
subsided somewhat, the hunter and the lad crept into the wickiup and
listened to the roaring of the rain as it came. Will, curled against the
side upon his pack, heard the fierce wind moaning as if the gods
themselves were in pain, and the rain beating in gust after gust. The
stout poles bent a little before both wind and rain, but their
elasticity merely added to their power of resistance, as the wickiup, so
simple in its structure and yet so serviceable, stood fast, and Boyd had
put on its skin covering so well that not a single drop of water
entered.

In civilization he might have found the wickiup too close to be
supportable, but in that raging wilderness, raging then at least, it was
snug beyond compare. He had a thought or two for the horses, but he knew
they would find shelter in the forest. Boyd, who was curled on the other
side of the wickiup, was already asleep, but the lad's sense of safety
and shelter was so great that he lay awake, and listened to the
shrieking of the elements, separated from him only by poles and a
bearskin. The power of contrast was so great that he had never felt
more comfortable in his life, and after listening awhile he, too, fell
asleep, sleeping soundly until day, when the storm had passed, leaving
the air crisper and fresher, and the earth washed afresh and clean.

They found the horses already grazing, and their bear and elk steaks,
which they had fastened securely, safe on the boughs. The valley itself,
so keen and penetrating was the odor of balsam and pine,