THE WINTER WOODS 173 



" Ob, uncle ! that will make ni}' feet freeze hard ! " 

 cried Nat, as the Doctor began to rub them vigorously 

 with handfuls of snow. 



" No, it won't," said Rap, consolingly ; "snow draAVS 

 the cold out ; the miller used often to rub my cheeks and 

 ears with snow when I went out with him in winter." 



In a few minutes Nat said the feeling was coming 

 back, only that it tickled in spots, so his uncle rolled 

 him in a blanket and dropped him into the bunk filled 

 with hemlock boughs that was to be his bed later on. 

 There he lay comfortably watching the people come 

 to and fro, and the preparations for supper. He was 

 wondering if his uncle would ever let him have the 

 gun again, whether the men would go Coon hunting 

 that evening, or stay at home and tell stories, and then 

 he fell asleep. 



When he awoke he did not know where he was at 

 first ; then he saw the supper table spread by the fire- 

 light, and a man, Toinette's brother, by the open door, 

 who called to Nez : " Returned am I in the good time ; 

 there was much fur in the traps, but the snow comes, 

 dat vat you call blinds, — ze squall!" He heard the 

 Doctor say : " We must make the best of it ; no Coons 

 to-night. It is a good chance for the boys to hear about 

 the little fur beasts and see a few of them." Then 

 Nat remembered where he was and scrambled up for 

 supper. 



