s who are within hearing will come to aid
you."

With the exception of hares, of which a good many were snared, the
hunting was not productive. Tracks of deer were seen not
unfrequently, but it was extremely difficult, even when the animals
were sighted, to get across the surface of the snow to within range
of the clumsy arquebuses that two or three of the men carried. They
did, however, manage to shoot a few by erecting a shelter, just
high enough for one man to lie down under, and leaving it until the
next snowstorm so covered it that it seemed but a knoll in the
ground, or a low shrub bent down and buried under the weight of the
snow. These shelters were erected close to paths taken by the deer,
and, by lying patiently all day in them, the men occasionally
managed to get a close shot.

Several bears were killed, and two elks. These afforded food for a
long time, as the frozen flesh would keep until the return of
spring. Holes were made in the ice on the stream, and baited hooks
being set every night, it was seldom that two or three fish were
not found fast on them in the morning.

Altogether, therefore, there was no lack of food; and as, under the
teaching of the captain, Charlie in time learnt to be able to keep
his direction through the woods, he was often able to go out,
either with Stanislas or alone, thus keeping clear of the close
smoky hut during the hours of daylight. Upon the whole he found the
life by no means an unpleasant one.

Among the articles purchased by the captain were high boots, lined
with sheepskin, coming up to the thigh. With these and the coats,
which had hoods to pull over the head, Charlie felt the cold but
little during the day; while at night he found the hut often
uncomfortably warm, sleeping, as they all did, in the same attire
in which they went out.

In February the weather became excessively severe, more so, the
peasants and charcoal burners they occasionally met with declared,
than they ever remembered. The wild animals became tamer, and in
the morning when they went out, they frequently found tracks of
bears that had been prowling round the hut in search of offal, or
bones thrown out. They were now obliged to hang their supply of
meat, by ropes, from boughs at some distance from the ground, by
which means they were enabled to prevent the bears getting at it.

They no longer dared to venture far from the hut, for large packs
of wolves ranged through the forest, and, driven