A STORMY NIGHT. ^ 137 



o' book tins nigger 'ud like to be able to read. I'm 

 a'most sorry now I didn't larn while I had the chance. 

 I like to hear about the woods an' the game; I do. 

 I'd never git tired o' listenin' to that sort o' readinV 



Gaultier also expressed himself much pleased, and 

 Pierre's notes were thenceforth regularly read for the 

 amusement of the trappers whenever their situation 

 permitted. 



Night had now fallen darkly on the forest. The 

 glow had left the heavens, and in its stead huge clouds 

 swept swiftly across the sky, here and there breaking 

 into rifts through which the stars gleamed wan and 

 faint, to be immediately eclipsed by the drifting 

 vapours. Sudden gusts rushed through the trees and 

 scattered the sparks and smoke of the carnp fire, while 

 the wrathful chirrup of the little red squirrel, and the 

 dismal hootings of the owls, seemed to portend a stormy 

 night. 



This change was so sudden, so unexpected, that it 

 had taken the hunters quite by surprise. They there- 

 fore made what preparations they could for the im- 

 pending down-pour. After considerable difficulty in 

 the uncertain light of the fire, a hut was constructed 

 of the boughs of the spruce fir, and over this was 

 thrown the skin of the moose, overlapped at the joining 

 by a buffalo robe. Poles were laid against these to 

 secure them from being blown off by the frequent 

 gusts. 



The camp fire was next replenished with enormous 



