k that wound its way down to the
Fork.

The floor was of puncheons split from oak logs, and laid loosely on
rough-hewn joists. These rattled as the visitors walked over them. At
one end of the cabin a huge fireplace of stone laid in clay yawned for
the future comfort of the new tenants. Near by, a rude set of shelves
suggested a pantry, and a table, home-made and equally rude, stood in
the middle of the floor. In one corner was built a bedstead, two sides
of the house furnishing two sides of the work, and the other two being
made by driving a stake into the floor, and connecting that by
string-pieces to the sides of the cabin. Thongs of buffalo-hide formed
the bottom of this novel bedstead. A few stools and short benches were
scattered about. Near the fireplace long and strong pegs, driven into
the logs, served as a ladder, on which one could climb to the low loft
overhead. Two windows, each of twelve small panes of glass, let in the
light, one from the end of the cabin, and one from the back opposite
the door, which was in the middle of the front. Outside, a frail
shanty of shakes leaned against the cabin, affording a sort of outdoor
kitchen for summer use.

"So this is home," said Charlie, gazing about. "What will mother say
to this--if she ever gets here?"

"Well, we've taken a heap of comfort here, my old woman and me," said
Younkins, looking around quickly, and with an air of surprise. "It's a
mighty comfortable house; leastways we think so."

Charlie apologized for having seemed to cast any discredit on the
establishment. Only he said that he did not suppose that his mother
knew much about log-cabins. As for himself, he would like nothing
better than this for a home for a long time to come. "For," he added,
roguishly, "you know we have come to make the West, 'as they the East,
the homestead of the free.'"

Mr. Younkins looked puzzled, but made no remark. The younger boys,
after taking in the situation and fondly inspecting every detail of
the premises, enthusiastically agreed that nothing could be finer than
this. They darted out of doors, and saw a corral, or pound, in which
the cattle could be penned up, in case of need. There was a small
patch of fallow ground, that needed only to be spaded up to become a
promising garden-spot. Then, swiftly running to the top of the little
bluff beyond, they gazed over the smiling panorama of emerald prairie,
laced with woody creeks, level fields, as yet undisturbed by t