at night, and we did not cook more than we could help, but ate the
dried meat, fowls, and fish we had by us.

The care of our beasts took us a great part of the day; then we made our
cakes and set them to bake in a tin plate on a slow fire. I had cut a
hole in the wall to give us light, and put a pane of glass in it to keep
out the wind, but the thick clouds hid the sun from the earth, and the
shade of the tree threw a gloom round our barn, so that our day light
was but short, and night came on far too soon. We then made use of our
wax lights, and all sat round a bench. My wife had as much as she could
well do to mend the rents we made in our clothes. I kept a log, In
which I put down, day by day, what we did and what we had seen; and
then Ernest wrote this out in a neat, clear hand, and made a book of it.
Fritz and Jack drew the plants, trees, and beasts which they had found,
and these were stuck in our book. Each night we took it in turns to read
the Word of God, and then all knelt down to pray ere we went to bed.
Ours was not a life of ease, it is true, but it was one of peace and
hope; and we felt that God had been so kind to us that it would be a
great sin to wish for what it did not please Him to grant us.

My wife did all she could to cheer us, and it was no strange thing for
us to find that while we were out in the rain with the live stock, she
had made some new dish, which we would scent as soon as we put our heads
in at the door. One night it was a thrush pie, the next a roast fowl,
or some wild duck soup; and once in a while she would give us a grand
feast, and bring out some of all the good things we had in store.

In the course of our stay in doors we made up our minds that we would
not spend the next time of storm and rain, when it should come round, in
the same place. The Nest would serve us well in that time of year when
it was fine and dry, but we should have to look out for some spot where
we could build a house that would keep us from the rain the next time
the storms came.

Fritz thought that we might find a cave, or cut one out of the rocks by
the sea shore. I told him that this would be a good plan, but would take
a long while to do. By this time the boys were all well used to hard
work, and they thought they would much like to try their skill at some
new kind of work.

"Well," said I, "we will go to the rocks round Tent House the first fine
day that comes, and try to find some place that will