sually remarked that he guessed
he'd wash his shirt and let it dry before the fire while he slept. Big
Jack and Shand both allowed that it was a good idea, and presently the
three of them were squatting together by the creek, sousing their
garments in the icy water.

Later Jack and Joe made a dicker to cut each other's hair. Shand,
hearing of this, was obliged to part with a necktie to get Jack to cut
his also. A general shave ended the ablutions. This was remarkable,
for Joe had shaved only the day before.

"A fellow hadn't ought to let himself get careless up in the bush," he
opined.

There was a great beating and shaking of clothes, and a combined
cleaning of the shack. Sam made a broom out of willow branches; Jack
cut some poles, out of which he designed to make a chair after supper.

"She's got to have something to sit in when she's watching beside
Husky's bed like," he said.

It did not occur to him that Bela had probably never in her life
before sat in a chair.

"You're damned lucky to get her to nurse you after you brought it on
yourself," Joe said to Husky.

Husky was now looking forward to her return no less than the others.
He had taken a turn for the better, and no longer thought of dying.

After supper a high degree of amity prevailed in the shack. Joe and
Shand helped with the chair, and then they all planned to make a table
next day.

"Shand, lend a hand with this piece while I drive a nail, will you?"
requested Jack politely.

"Sure thing! Say this is going to be out o' sight! You certainly have
a good knack of making things, Jack."

"Oh, so-so. I ought to have a flat piece to put on the seat."

"I'll go out to the stable and see if I can find a box-cover."

"You stay here. I'll go," said Joe.

Sam, washing the dishes, harkened to this, and smiled a little grimly
to himself, wondering how long it would last.

They retired early. The bed was given up to Husky, and the other four
rolled up in their blankets across the room like a row of mummies.
Calm brooded over the shack throughout the night.

Sam had not had so much time as the others to make himself presentable
the night before, so he got up extra early for that purpose. Issuing
out of the shack with soap, towel, razor, and glass, the first thing
he beheld on rounding the shack was Bela. She was kneeling on a piece
of wood to protect her knees from the wet ground, tearing and rolling
some pieces of cotton for bandages.

She was d