uts and
berries as he could gather in his desperate search.

He was near death by starvation when he chanced to meet two hunters. They
gave him food and asked him to join them. Then, allowing him to take turns
in riding their horses, they helped him to reach home in safety.

You might think that this bitter experience would have made Robertson
unwilling to risk another journey back through the wilderness. But, as we
have said, he was not easily thwarted, and the thought of what lay beyond
the mountains made him hold the cost light.

He gave such glowing accounts of the wonderful country he had seen that by
spring sixteen families were ready to go with him to make their home
there.

HOW THE BACKWOODSMEN LIVED

Let us in imagination join this group of travellers as it starts out to
cross the mountains. Each family has its pack-horse--perhaps a few
families have two--carrying household goods. These are not so bulky as
ours to-day, for pioneer life is simple, and the people have at most only
what they need. There are, of course, some rolls of bedding and clothing,
a few cooking utensils, a few packages of salt and seed corn, and a flask
or two of medicine. The pack-horse carries also the mother and perhaps a
very small child or two. The boys who are old enough to shoulder rifles
march in front with their father, ready to shoot game for food or to stand
guard against Indians. Some of the older children drive the cows which the
settlers are taking along with them.

After reaching the place selected for their settlement, the younger
children are set to clearing away the brush and piling it up in heaps
ready for burning. The father and the elder sons, who are big enough to
wield an axe, lose no time in cutting down trees and making a clearing for
the log cabin. All work with a will, and soon the cabin is ready.

[Illustration: Living-Room of the Early Settler.]

The furniture, like the cabin itself, is rude and simple. A bedstead is
set up in a corner, a washstand is placed near by, and a few three-legged
stools are put here and there; and of course there is a table to eat at.
Places are quickly found for the water bucket, used to bring water from
the stream, the gourd dipper with which to fill it, and other small
utensils; while pegs driven into the wall in convenient places hold
clothes, rifles, skins, and the like.

[Illustration: Grinding Indian Corn.]

If our pioneers are well-to-do, there may be tucked away i