MY COMPANIONS 17 



rogues than the children of the pioneer settlers it is 

 impossible to find. When I first went among them I 

 pitied the sturdy children of my neighbours, seeing them 

 running about without shoes or stockings, and with 

 scanty clothing in very sharp weather, and I used to call 

 them into my hut to share my dinner. That was 

 accepted as hospitality ; but when 1 offered the oldest 

 boy a pair of my shoes and some stockings, he drew 

 himself up with the dignity of a king, and said, " You 

 are mistaken. We are not beggars," and I soon dis- 

 covered that his father was rich enough to buy me up 

 ten times over. A sturdy, independent race are these 

 Nature-fighters of the great North- West. 



Many such huts as those I have attempted to 

 describe have I assisted to build, and on one or two 

 occasions I have passed the whiter in a log-hut. I may 

 add that it is usual to peel the bark from the logs before 

 building ; but I am convinced from experience that it is a 

 bad plan : for after the rains and snows of winter the 

 fierce heat of summer will warp peeled logs, but not 

 those on which the bark has been permitted to remain. 



