s
as large in circumference as the pan would accommodate and a quarter
of an inch thick. These cakes he fried in pork grease. This was the
sort of bread that they were to eat through the winter.

The meal was a cozy one. Outside the wind shrieked angrily and swirled
the snow in smothering clouds around the tilt, and rattled the
stovepipe, threatening to shake it down. It was very pleasant to be
out of it all in the snug, warm shack with the stove crackling
contentedly and the place filled with the mingled odours of the
steaming kettle of partridges and tea and spruce boughs. To the
hunters it seemed luxurious after their tedious fight against the
swift river. Times like this bring ample recompense to the wilderness
traveller for the most strenuous hardships that he is called upon to
endure. The memory of one such night will make men forget a month of
suffering. Herein lies one of the secret charms of the wilds.

When supper was finished Dick and Bill filled their pipes, and with
coals from the stove lighted them. Then they lounged back and puffed
with an air of such perfect, speechless bliss that for the first time
in his life Bob felt a desire to smoke. He drew from his pocket the
pipe Douglas had given him and filled it from a plug of the tobacco.
When he reached for a firebrand to light it Dick noticed what he was
doing and asked good naturedly,--

"Think t' smoke with us, eh?"

"Yes, thinks I'll try un."

"An' be gettin' sick before un knows it," volunteered Bill.

Disregarding the suggestion Bob fired his pipe and lay back with the
air of an old veteran. He soon found that he did not like it very
much, and in a little while he felt a queer sensation in his stomach,
but it was not in Bob's nature to acknowledge himself beaten so
easily, and he puffed on doggedly. Pretty soon beads of perspiration
stood out upon his forehead and he grew white. Then he quietly laid
aside the pipe and groped his way unsteadily out of doors, for he was
very dizzy and faint. When he finally returned he was too sick to pay
any attention to the banter of his companions, who unsympathetically
made fun of him, and he lay down with the inward belief that smoking
was not the pleasure it was said to be, and as for himself he would
never touch a pipe again.

All day Sunday and Monday the storm blew with unabated fury and the
three were held close prisoners in the tilt. On Monday night it
cleared, and Tuesday morning came clear and raspi