el register what had happened during the day. I did
this chiefly so that when I came to write to my mother Sunday I would
forget nothing; and I am very glad now that I did so, for without the
register and the letters (both of which I now have) about some things,
especially dates, I might go wrong in writing this account. Besides,
in the past, it has been much satisfaction when I have related any of
the incidents of my winter at Track's End and some person, to show how
smart he was, has tried to cast doubt on my word--it has been much
comfort to me, I say, in such cases to have the register and letters
to show him, with it all set down in black and white.

Thus it comes I know that Pawsy caught a mouse in the barn on
Wednesday, January 12th, at about half-past seven o'clock in the
morning, while I was milking the cow. I think it was the only mouse at
Track's End that winter, for I never saw or heard any other. There
were no rats in the Territory then anywhere, unless it may have been
at Yankton, or at some of the old Red River settlements about
Pembina.

Pawsy was a good hunter, and several times caught a snowbird, though I
boxed her ears for this; and on Friday, the 21st, I found her near
Joyce's store trying to drag home a jack-rabbit. She must have caught
it by lying in wait, but I marveled how she killed the monstrous
creature. But she was, indeed, one of the largest and strongest cats I
ever knew. I would have trusted her to whip a coyote in a fair fight.
I got three jacks in January myself with the rifle, and found them
very good to eat; but the first one, after skinning it, I left
overnight in the shed, and in the morning it was gone. That day I
went to Taggart's and got two good bolts and put them on the shed
door.

Getting my meals I found very hard work, but I made out better than
you might think, since my mother had taught me something about
cooking. At first I neglected getting regular meals, snatching a bite
of anything that I could lay my hands on; but I soon saw that this
would not do if I were to keep in good health and strength. My
boarders, too, were great hands to complain if they did not get their
meals regularly. You might have thought that cat and dog were paying
good money for their board, the way they would mew and whine if a meal
were late. I took very good care of the chickens, giving them plenty
of warm food, so from about Christmas I got a dozen or more eggs each
week. The cow, too, I fed