off in single file along the shores of Silver Lake. They
soon reached the hut, and here again Nelly found many interesting points
to dilate upon. She poured her words into willing and sympathetic ears,
so that she monopolised nearly all the talk during the time that Larry
O'Dowd was preparing supper.

When that meal was being eaten the conversation became more general.
Plans were discussed as to the intended procedure on the morrow, and
various courses of action fixed. After that, as a matter of course, the
pipes came out, and while these were being smoked, only the talkative
members of the party kept up the conversation at intervals. Roy and
Nelly having exhausted all they had to say, began to feel desperately
sleepy, and the latter, having laid her head on her father's knee, fell
sound asleep in that position. Soon the pipes were smoked out, the fire
was replenished, the blankets unrolled; and in a very brief period of
time the whole party was in a state of happy unconsciousness, with the
exception of poor Wapaw, whose wounds made him rather restless, and the
Black Swan, whose duty it was to take the first watch; for it was,
deemed right to set a watch, lest by any chance the Indians should have
followed the hunters' tracks, though this was not probable.

Next morning Robin aroused the sleepers somewhat abruptly by shooting a
grey hen with his rifle from the tent door.

"There's breakfast for you and me, Nelly, at any rate," remarked the
hunter, as he went down to the lake to secure his bird.

"An' won't there be the bones and feathers for the rest of us?" observed
Larry, yawning, "so we won't starve this day, anyhow."

In a few minutes every man was actively engaged in work of some sort or
other. Robin and Walter prepared fishing-lines from some pieces of
buckskin parchment; Black Swan and Slugs went out to cut wood for making
sledges; Stiff repaired the snow-shoes of the party, or rather assisted
Nelly in this operation; and Larry attended to the preparation of
breakfast. Wapaw was the only one who lay still, it being thought
better to make him rest, and get strong for the approaching journey.

During the course of the day the lines were tried, and a good number of
fish caught. Slugs also went off in search of deer, and returned in the
evening with a large stag on his broad shoulders. This raised the
spirits of the party greatly, and they feasted that night, with much
rejoicing, on venison, marrowbone