ck it up--Watty was left, so to speak, with a free hand--that
is to say, he had a fire, plenty of meat, a knife, he knew how to cook,
and there was no one to say, "Hold hard, young fellow! I'm sure you
have had quite enough." So after making such arrangements as should
provide an ample amount of roast deer for Steve when he returned, and
also for the three personages of the expedition, Watty took a look
round.

The sun was getting lower, but the glittering ice peaks and the lights
and shades on the mountain were beautiful to behold. But Watty did not
see that beauty. He noticed how profound the silence was, thought it
very lonely, and turned back to the fire, which was the most beautiful
thing he had seen that day, for the gas and smoke were gone, and the
coal was all of a hot glow, there being plenty and no question of its
price per ton.

"She wonters where the young chief has gone," muttered Watty. "Hey, but
what a fire to broil a bone!"

A minute later the leg bone of the buck was spitting and sputtering on
the glowing coals, and Watty smiled as he felt in his pockets and
brought out a tobacco box, which, on being opened, proved to contain two
pieces of rag, which he also opened, and displayed about a
dessert-spoonful of salt and about half that quantity of black pepper.

"She smells fine alreaty," said the lad; and he took a pinch of pepper
as if it were snuff, and carefully sprinkled it over the grilling bone,
following it up with a pinch of salt. Then the box, with its contents,
was put away, and Watty dived into his pockets again, to bring out a
couple of biscuits.

"Twa biscuit," he said. "Hey, but she willna waste ta pread when she
can have sae muckle gude meat!"

He turned the bone over and waited a few minutes, which he spent in
whetting the blade of his knife on a piece of smooth stone, and trying
its edge again and again, and ending by giving it a stropping on his
boot sole as if he meant to shave.

"Done!" he cried suddenly; and whisking the browned and in some places
blackened bone from the fire, he squatted down with his legs doubled
under him like a Japanese, and began to skin off pieces of the tempting
venison, and ate them deliberately, smiling with satisfaction the while.

"I ken naebody could hae cookit deer meat efer so petter as tat," he
said as he worked away, thoroughly enjoying his picnic meal till the
last scrap was cleaned off, and then he cracked the bone with the back
of hi