so that your head was higher than your feet; so you see I'd have had
nothing better than the soft side of a plank for a mattress if you hadn't
fitted me out with one. And when the other fellows saw how snug I was,
they vowed they'd have a soft bed too; so what do you think they did?
They gathered an immense quantity of hemlock branches--little soft ones,
you know--and spread them thick over the boards, and then they laid
blankets over that and made a really fine mattress for all. So that, you
see, I quite set the fashion. The last thing to be made was the
fireplace, which has the very queer name of 'caboose,' and is queerer
than its name. It is right in the middle of the room, not at one end, and
is as big as a small room by itself. First of all, a great bank of stones
and sand is laid on the floor, kept together by boards at the edges; then
a large square hole is cut in the roof above, and a wooden chimney built
on the top of it; and then at two of the corners cranes to hold the pots
are fixed, and the caboose is complete. And oh, mother, such roaring big
fires as were always going in it after the cold came--all night long, you
know; and sometimes I had to stay awake to keep the fire from going out,
which wasn't much fun, but, of course, I had to take my turn. So now,
mother, you ought to have a pretty good idea of what our shanty was like;
for, besides a table and our chests, there was nothing much else in it to
describe."

Such were Frank Kingston's surroundings as he entered upon the humble
and laborious duties of chore-boy in Camp Kippewa, not attempting to
conceal from himself that he would much rather be a chopper or teamster
or road-maker, but with his mind fully fixed upon doing his work, however
uncongenial it might be, cheerfully and faithfully for one winter at
least, feeling confident that if he did he would not be chore-boy for
long, but would in due time be promoted to some more dignified and
attractive position.