THIRTY TEAKS A HUNTER. 11 



not informed him a day or two earlier, and was in- 

 clined to be somewhat angry, when my mother inter- 

 posed, and said if we could get through the first night 

 it would do. We soon became warm, had our supper, 

 went to sleep and passed the night very comfortably. 

 The next morning all hands went to work and made 

 a floor and chimney, and plastered the house, and 

 accomplished it in two days. On the 25th my father 

 commenced his mill. He had to hew and split out 

 all the timbers to be used for building. He had also 

 a race to dig and a dam to build, and he had it all 

 finished by the first of March. 



At that time game, such as bears, elk, deer and 

 wild turkeys were very plenty in that section of the 

 country. I had two brothers old enough to hunt, but 

 they had no gun except an old musket which my 

 father had used while training. In the morning we 

 would frequently find the deer feeding within twenty 

 rods of the house. Sometimes, wo would see a drove 

 of elk, fifteen or twenty in number, crossing the river. 

 At other times we saw bears traveling back and for- 

 ward. But we had no hunters among the six men, 

 and no gun but the old musket, and that was out of 

 order. On the 5th of December two of our nearest 

 neighbors, (who lived twelve miles distant) came to 

 see us, bringing two guns and two dogs, but no am- 

 munition. There was no powder or lead in that part 

 of the country except what my father had, and he 

 supplied them what they needed. They then hunted 

 about two days for my father to procure him a supply 

 of wild meat. Notwithstanding they were little 



