I will stay behind and
finish up the cabin for the winter and look after the dog." So
it was agreed. The Indian left the camp alone this time and
crossed to the east shore of the lake; there to follow up another
stream as before and to return in three or four days to the cabin.
Chapter 28. Alone in the Wilderness
Rolf began the day by giving Skookum a bath as hot as he could
stand it, and later his soup. For the first he whined feebly and
for the second faintly wagged his tail; but clearly he was on the
mend.
Now the chinking and moss-plugging of the new cabin required all
attention. That took a day and looked like the biggest job on
hand, but Rolf had been thinking hard about the winter. In
Connecticut the wiser settlers used to bank their houses for the
cold weather; in the Adiron- dacks he knew it was far, far
colder, and he soon decided to bank the two shanties as deeply as
possible with earth. A good spade made of white oak, with its
edge hardened by roasting it brown, was his first necessity, and
after two days of digging he had the cabin with its annex buried
up to "the eyes" in fresh, clean earth.
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