As the stroke of the axe reverberated through the woods, no answer came
back to assure him of the presence of friend or foe. At night in these
solitudes, they heard the wolves stealing through the gloom, sniffing
the scent of the intruders; and now and then, then bloodshot eyes of the
catamount glared through the foliage.

Days, weeks and months passed in this toilsome journey through the
wilderness, so indelibly impressing it on the memory of Fernando
Stevens, that he never, to his dying day, forgot that journey. At last
they arrived at the landmarks which, to Albert Stevens, indicated the
proximity of his possessions. A location for the cabin was selected near
a small stream of running water, on the south side of a slight
elevation.

No time was lost. The trees were immediately felled, and in a short time
Fernando, looking out from the covered wagon, perceived a clear space of
ground of but few rods in circumference. Stakes, forked at the top, were
driven into the ground, on which the father placed logs, and the chinks
between these were stopped with clay. An enclosure was thus hastily
thrown up to protect the family from the weather, and the wife and
children were removed to this improvised abode. The trunks of the trees
were rolled to the edge of the clearing, and surmounted by stakes driven
crosswise into the ground: the severed tops and branches of trees piled
on top of the logs, thus forming a brush fence. By degrees the
surrounding trees were "girdled" and killed. Those that would split were
cut down and made into rails, while others were left to rot or logged up
and burned.

A year showed a great improvement in the pioneer's home. Several acres
had been added to the clearing, and the place began to assume the