WILD ANIMALS AND MEN 239 



I was counting on the pleasure of sleeping in my night-shirt, I 

 planned to sit up late enough to make my wish come true, 

 though I knew that the intended occupants of those two bunks 

 would have to rely solely upon darkness to form a screen, as 

 neither bunk was provided with a curtain. After a little while, 

 however, it began to dawn upon me that the girls were counting 

 on doing the same thing, for they made no move to leave the 

 open fire. But the Sand Man finally made them capitulate. 

 At last, rising from their seats, they piled a lot of fresh wood 

 upon the fire, then climbing into their big bunk, they took off 

 their shawls and hanging them from the rafters, draped them 

 completely about their bed. Now my opportunity had arrived, 

 and though the fire was filling the one-room log house with 

 a blaze of light, I made haste to discard my clothes — for now 

 the older people were all sound asleep. In a few moments I 

 was in the very act of slipping on the coveted garment when 

 I heard a peal of merriment behind me. On looking round I 

 discovered that the shawls had vanished from around the bunk 

 and four merry young ladies, all in a row, were peering at me 

 from beneath their blankets and fairly shaking their bed with 

 laughter. 



INDIANS AND CIVILIZATION 



Tastowich's home was built entirely of wood, deerskin, and 

 clay. The house was of logs, the glassless windows were of 

 deerskin parchment, the door-lock and the door-hinges were 

 of wood, the latch string was of deerskin, the fireplace and 

 the chimney were of clay, the roof thatch was of bark. The 

 abode was clean, serviceable, and warm ; and yet it was a house 

 that could have been built thousands of years ago. But con- 

 sider, for instance, Oo-koo-hoo's comfortable lodge; a similar 

 dwelling, no doubt, could have been erected a million years 

 ago; and thus, even in our time, the pre-historic still hovers 

 on the outskirts of our flimsy civilization. A civilization that 



