The Last of the Plainsmen 



and carried it up the bank, which labor took them 

 less than a week. 



Jones found sleeping in the cabin, despite the fire, 

 uncomfortably cold, because of the wide chinks 

 between the logs. It was hardly better than sleeping 

 under the swaying spruces. When he essayed to stop 

 up the cracks a task by no means easy, considering 

 the lack of material Rea laughed his short &quot; Ho! 

 Ho!&quot; and stopped him with the word, &quot;Wait.&quot; 

 Every morning the green ice extended farther out 

 into the lake; the sun paled dim and dimmer; the 

 nights grew colder. On October 8th the thermome 

 ter registered several degrees below zero; it fell a 

 little more next night and continued to fall. 



&quot;Ho! Ho!&quot; cried Rea. &quot; She s struck the 

 toboggan, an* presently she ll commence to slide. 

 Come on, Buff, we ve work to do.&quot; 



He caught up a bucket, made for their hole in 

 the ice, rebrokc a six-inch layer, the freeze of a few 

 hours, and filling his bucket, returned to the cabin. 

 Jones had no inkling of the trapper s intention, and 

 wonderingly he soused his bucket full of water and 

 followed. 



By the time he had reached the cabin, a matter of 

 some thirty or forty good paces, the water no longer 

 splashed from his pail, for a thin film of ice pre 

 vented. Rea stood fifteen feet from the cabin, his 



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