without penetrating moistened sand. He leveled down the walls till
he had a chamber about twelve feet square. Over this he placed the
wagon-tongue, converting it into the ridge-pole, which he set upon
forks cut from the near-by cedars. Having trimmed branches of the
trees in the grove, he laid them as close together as possible,
slanting from the ridge-pole to the ground, and over these laid the
bushy cedar branches. This substantial roof he next covered with
dirt, heaping it up till no glimpse of wood was visible tinder the
hard-packed dome. The end of the dugout was closed up in the same
way except for a hole near the top fitted closely to the stovepipe
and packed with mud.

Of the sideboards he fashioned a rude frame, then a door to stand
in it, fitted into grooves that it might be pushed and held into
place without hinges. "Of course I got to take down my door every
time I comes in or out," remarked Willock, regarding his structure
with much complacency, "but they's nothing else to do, and I got to
be occupied."

When he had transported the stove to the cove, he set it up with a
tingle of expectant pleasure. It was to be his day of housewarming,
not because the weather had grown cold, but that he might celebrate.

"This here," he said, "is to be a red-letter day, a day plumb up in
X, Y and Z. I got to take my gun and forage for some game; then
I'll dress my fresh meat and have a cooking. I'll bring over some
grub to keep it company. Let's see--this is plum-day, ain't it?"
He stood meditating, stroking his wild whiskers with a grimy hand.
"Oh, Lord, yes, I believe it IS plum-day! 'Well, they ain't nothing
the way you would have made it yourself,' says Brick, 'not even