Within the shelter of
its walls he hoped to sleep at peace again. His nerves were stretched
like violin strings from the lack of it; for all he could permit himself
was an hour or two in the morning while Natalie was awake and could warn
him. All afternoon he chopped pine trees, which old Cy with an
improvised harness dragged into camp; and far into the night, until
overtaken with complete exhaustion, he trimmed his logs, squared the
ends, and lifted them into place.

It was their second red-letter day, when the last sod was dropped into
place on the roof, and Garth carried Natalie inside. Strictly considered,
the house was not very much to brag about, perhaps; for it slanted this
way and that like the first pothooks in a child's copybook; but Garth,
fired by Natalie's enthusiastic praises, could not have been prouder
if he had completed the Taj Mahal.

One end had been partitioned off for Natalie's room; and in finishing
this part Garth had spent all his pains. The floor was made of small
logs, filled and plastered with clay, which he had hardened by building
fires upon it; and had then strewn rushes over the whole. There was a
rough bunk in one corner, with a low table by its side--the latest thing
in rustics, the maker explained. There was a tiny window high up on the
side overlooking the lake; it had no glass, but a stout shutter swinging
on wooden pins, and which fastened with a strong wooden bar. But the
crowning feature of the room, constructed with infinite pains after
countless failures, was the fireplace in the corner. Garth deprecated
it; it wasn't much of a fireplace; only a sort of little arched doorway
of baked clay, so narrow the logs had to stand upright in it, making
cooking very difficult--but when Natalie saw the flames curling up the
chimney in the most natural way possible, she set up a feeble crow of
delight.

The balance of the interior was to serve for Garth's room and storeroom
combined. It had a very small door, also on the lake side; but he could
not afford a window beside; and he also saved himself the trouble of
flooring it. The door was constructed in the same manner as the shutter,
of matched poles strongly braced behind, and further strengthened with
rawhide lashings.

Natalie had Garth hang a spare blanket over the doorway between the
two rooms; and she produced a shawl to serve for a table cloth. After
supper, when they locked themselves in and heaped up the fire, Natalie
propped