MEETING OF THE WILD MEN 163 



feet. I was shown into the spare room and given a candle, 

 and when I bade them good-night and turned to close the door, 

 I discovered that there was no door to close, nor was there 

 even a curtain to screen me from view. The bed, however, 

 was an old-fashioned wooden affair with a big solid footboard, 

 so I concluded that in case of any one passing the doorway, 

 I could crouch behind the foot of the bed. Then, when I 

 blew out my candle, I got a great surprise, for lo and behold ! 

 I could see all over the house! I could see "Paw and Maw" 

 getting undressed, Athabasca saying her prayers, and the half- 

 breed maids getting into bed. 



How did it happen? The cracks between the upright boards 

 of my partition were so wide that I could have shoved my 

 fingers through. As a matter of fact, Mr. Spear explained next 

 day, the lumber being green, rather than nail the boards tightly 

 into place, he had merely stood them up, and waited for them 

 to season. 



During the night the cold grew intense, and several 

 times I was startled out of my sleep by a frosty report from 

 the ice and snow on the roof that reminded one of the firing of a 

 cannon. 



In the morning when the geese began screeching in the 

 lower hall, I thought it was time to get up, and was soon in the 

 very act of pulling off a certain garment over my head when 

 one of the half-breed maids — the red-headed one whose hair 

 Mr. Spear had cut off with the horse clippers — intruded 

 herself into my room to see if I were going to be down in 

 time for breakfast, and I had to drop behind the foot of 

 the bed. 



At breakfast, the first course was oatmeal porridge; the 

 second, "Son-in-law"; the third, fried bacon, toast, and tea; 

 after which we all put on our wraps for our five-mile trip across 

 God's Lake to Fort Consolation. Everyone went, maids, 

 chore-boy, and all, and everyone made the trip on snowshoes — 



