hing was to cut it and pile it away in the house. Smith undertook
to build a sawbuck, and, with Mr. Allen's help, the job was soon
accomplished. Every fellow then took his turn sawing off blocks until
dinner time.

As they sat around the table enjoying a camp meal of fried ham, boiled
rice, potatoes, rye bread, and coffee, a general discussion arose as to
what the cabin should be named. They hoped to get the big bed filled with
balsam boughs that afternoon before they started home, then the place
would be ready for real use on a big scale; and, of course, it must have
a name.

"Let's call it Snowbird Retreat," suggested Fat naively.

"Not on your life!" called Smith good-naturedly. "No snowbirds about this
house; you want a good, warm, comfortable name. I'd freeze to death, or
maybe get scared, if you called it that."

"St. Mary's Inn," suggested Ham.

"O fiddle, sounds like an old Spanish mission," objected another.

"The House that Ham Built," suggested Mr. Dean.

"Buffalo Roost," suggested Willis. "We certainly do love to roost around
in here, and it's in Buffalo Canyon." After a very heated discussion,
Buffalo Roost was chosen for the name, and Willis set about gathering
twigs to make a rustic sign for over the door.

The wood all in, the dinner dishes washed, and the cabin put in order,
the next thing to do was to thatch the big bed. O, what mountains of
sweet-scented green boughs it took! One party, under Mr. Dean, pulled
in pile after pile of boughs from up on the snow-covered hillside, while
the other party cut and trimmed and laid them in. Choice large fans were
laid in the bottom, the butts toward the foot, the bow of the branch
uppermost. Then a thick layer of fine sprigs to fill in every hollow.
Smith worked with a will, and enjoyed the day like he had no other since
the work on the cabin had begun.

Never before had they so hated to leave the Roost, for every fellow was
coming to love it and its companionship. It gave plenty of healthful
action, good things to think about, and warm friends. It was building
character and they did not know it. It was fitting a choice group of
older fellows to work together in the community life about them, working
for the welfare and comfort of others, forgetting themselves in their
unselfish service.

In the late afternoon it began to snow again, and by the time they were
well on their way home it was falling fast.

"Getting in that wood was a wise stunt," obser