The men and boys, though
now sparing their powder and ball, still set traps for game and were not
without reward. Often they found elk and deer, and once or twice a
buffalo floundering in the deep snowdrifts, and these they added to the
winter larder. They broke holes in the ice on the river and caught fish
in abundance. They worked, too, about the houses, making more tables and
benches and chairs and shelves and adding to their bodily comforts.
The great snow lasted about a month and then began to break up with a
heavy rain which melted all the ice, but which could not carry away all
the snow. The river rose rapidly and overflowed its banks but Wareville
was safe, built high on the hill where floods could not reach. Warm
winds followed the rain and the melting snow turned great portions of
the forest into lakes. The trees stood in water a yard deep, and the
aspect of the wilderness was gloomy and desolate. Even the most resolute
of the hunters let the game alone at such a time. Often the warm winds
would cease to blow when night came and then the great lagoons would be
covered with a thin skim of ice which melted again the next day under
the winds and the sun.
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