As the slaughter of so many buffaloes had provided the party with
beef for the winter, even if they met with no further supply, they now
set to work with heart and hand to build a comfortable shelter.
In a little while the woody promontory rang with the unwonted sound
of the axe. Some of its lofty trees were laid low, and by the second
evening the cabin was complete. It was eight feet wide, and eighteen
feet long. The walls were six feet high, and the whole was covered
with buffalo-skins. The fireplace was in the centre, and the smoke
found its way out by a hole in the roof.

The hunters were next sent out to procure deerskins for garments,
moccasins, and other purposes. They made the mountains echo with
their rifles, and, in the course of two days' hunting, killed
twenty-eight bighorn and black-tailed deer.

The party now revelled in abundance. After all they had suffered
from hunger, cold, fatigue, and watchfulness; after all their perils
from treacherous and savage men, they exulted in the snugness and
security of their isolated cabin, hidden, as they thought, even from
the prying eyes of Indian scouts, and stored with creature comforts.
They looked forward to a winter of peace and quietness; of roasting,
broiling, and boiling, feasting upon venison, mountain mutton,
bear's meat, marrow-bones, buffalo humps, and other hunters' dainties;
of dozing and reposing around their fire, gossiping over past dangers
and adventures, telling long hunting stories--until spring should
return; when they would make canoes of buffalo-skins, and float down
the river.

From such halcyon dreams they were startled one morning, at daybreak,