TREED BY WOLVES 225

have got the hut pretty nearly roofed in, so in a day or
two we shall be comfortable.”

‘They went in a body to the place where the cart had
been left, but it required two journeys before its contents
were all transported to the hut. Another three days and
this was completed; it was roughly built of logs, the inter-
stices being filled in with moss. ‘There was no attempt at
a door, an opening being left four feet high and eighteen
inches wide for the purpose of an entry. The skin of a
deer they had shot since they arrived was hung up outside,
and a folded rug inside; there was no occasion for windows,
a certain amount of light made its way in by an orifice a
foot square, that had been left in the roof for the escape
of smoke. The hut itself consisted of one room only,
about eighteen feet square. When this was finished, all
hands set to work to pile up a great stack of firewood close
to the door, so as to save them from the necessity of going
far until snow had ceased falling and winter had set in in
earnest.

The cart had brought six carcasses of sheep that had
been purchased from a peasant; these were hung up out-
side the hut to freeze hard, and the meat was eaten only
once a day, as it would be impossible to obtain a fresh
supply until the weather became settled enough to admit
of their hunting. ‘Lhe preparations were but just finished
when the snow began to fall heavily. For a week it came
down without intermission, the wind howled among the
trees, and even Charlie, half-stifled as he was by the smoke,
felt no inclination to stir out, except for half an hour's
work to clear away the snow from the entrance, and to carry
in wood from the pile. The time passed more cheerfully
than might have been expected. He had by this time
begun to talk Polish with some facility, and was able to
understand the stories that the men told as they sat round
the fire, sometimes tales of adventures they themselves