Four years had passed away, and Michael Hale and his family had began to
reap the fruits of their industry. They had forty acres of land
cleared, enough to bear crops. Two acres were planted with apple-trees,
which already yielded a large supply of fruit. The apples were packed
in casks, and were then fit to be sent off to distant markets. Some
were peeled, cut in slices, dried in the sun, and hung up for home
winter use.
They had several cows and oxen, and a flock of sheep, and pigs, and
poultry. As they frequently killed oxen, and sheep, and pigs, for their
own use, they were able to form a store of fat for making candles and
soap at home. Indeed, Michael was rapidly becoming a substantial
farmer. He was not, however, without his sorrows and trials.
Susan had never completely recovered, and the year after he settled at
Thornhill she had died of consumption. Fanny Kemp watched over and
attended her as a sister to the last, and now so completely filled her
place, that no one would have thought that she was not a daughter.
Rob, indeed, hoped to make her one ere long. He had loved her for many
years; but, like a good son, felt that he ought not to marry and set up
for himself till he had helped his father to settle comfortably. He now
opened the matter to his father. "There's one thing, however, I want to
do first, that is to see you and mother in a well-plastered house," he
said, after he had got Michael's consent to his marriage. "We'll get
that put up during the summer, and this old log-house will do for Fanny
and me for another year or two. There's only one thing I ask. Don't
tell mother what we are about. It will be a pleasant surprise to her.
She was saying, only the other day, that she wished that she had a house
with another floor."
When Mr Landon heard that Rob was going to marry Fanny Kemp, he called
him aside one day, and said, "If your father will give you twenty acres
of his land, I will give you another twenty acres alongside it, and
will, besides, stand the expense of a bee, and have a house put up for
you in no time. Your father was kind to me when I was burnt out of my
house, and has given me much good advice, by which I have profited. His
example made me work in a way I do not think I should have otherwise
done."
Rob thanked Mr Landon very much, but told him of his wish first to help
his father build and settle in a comfortable plastered house.
"You set a good example, Rob; and I hope other young men will follow it.
A dutiful son will make a good husband, and little Fanny deserves one."
The new house was to be in a very different style from the old one. The
first thing was to burn the lime. It was found on the top of the hill,
and brought down in carts to a piece of ground, the trees on which had
just been cut down. These were now piled up in a large heap, and the
limestone placed above. By the time the log heap was burned, the lime
was made, but it took some time to clear it from the ashes. A wood of
fine elm-trees grew near. A number of them were felled to form the
walls. In many respects, a well-built log-house, when well-plastered,
is better than one of brick or stone in that climate. At the end of the
lake a saw-mill had lately been established. Rob, David, and Tommy set
out in the canoe to bring home a supply of planks from the mill. Rob
took his gun, in the hopes of getting a shot at wild-fowl. On their
way, when passing an island, a deer, which seemed to have taken refuge
there, started out, and plunging into the water, swam rapidly across the
lake.
Bob fired, and hit the deer, which made directly for the shore. Just as
it neared it, some Indians who had been fishing in a canoe overtook it;
and weak from loss of blood, it was killed by a few blows from their
paddles. The Indians seemed to think it their prize.
"Come shore--you have part," said their chief, in broken English, Rob
thought this was better than the risk of a quarrel. Near the spot was
an encampment of Indians. Those in the canoe let him know that they
would consult their friends as to how much of the deer he ought to have.
Bob and his companions climbed up the hill, and watched the Indians, who
stood grouped below. They were dark-skinned men, of a dull copper hue.
They were in their full war dresses. Their cheeks were mostly painted
red, but some had put on other colours. In their heads they wore
feathers and bead ornaments. Their coats were of untanned leather,
ornamented with beads, as were their leggings and boots, or mocassins.
Some, however, were dressed more comfortably, in coats cut out of
blankets, making the dark borders come in as ornaments. Their tents, or
wigwams, were in the shape of a sugar-loaf. They were formed of long
poles, stuck in the ground, about six inches apart; the round being
about ten feet across, and the poles fastened together at the top. This
was thickly covered with large pieces of birch-bark. Mats were spread
on the ground, except in the middle, where a place was left for a fire.
On one side a hole was left to serve as a door, with a blanket hung upon
a line across it. This is the Indian's house throughout the year, and
in winter, when put up in a sheltered spot, can, with the help of a fire
inside; be kept quite warm. Bob and David went inside one of them. The
women, who were dressed in blanket, petticoats, and cloaks, received
them very kindly, and laughed and chatted away as if their visitors
could understand what they said. Lines were fastened from side to side
across the tent, on which were hung household utensils, clothes, and all
sorts of things, and a sort of cradle, with a baby fastened on to it.
The little creature could not move hands or feet, but seemed perfectly
happy.
In a little time the men came back, saying that a haunch and a leg
should be theirs. These parts were placed in the canoe; and, after a
friendly parting with the Indians, Rob and his companions, paddled off
towards the mill.
It was late when they reached it; but the weather was fine, there was a
bright moon at night, and they determined to start back at once. They
bought three thousand feet of boards, with which they formed a raft.
Soon after the sun rose they reached the landing place near their home.
Mr Landon kept to his promise to call a bee, and in three days a
substantial log-house was erected, and the planks laid down of the
ground and upper floors. The rest of the work, it was left to Rob and
his brothers to finish.
Great was the surprise of Mrs Hale, when her sons, with her husband and
Fanny, took her to see the house which she had thought was being built
for some stranger coming to the settlement.
"It's yours and father's, mother, just an offering from your children,"
said Rob. "If you will let Fanny and me have the old one, we hope to
make ourselves happy in it."
Mrs Hale thanked her dutiful children, and thanked God for having
brought them to a country where their industry and perseverance had been
so fully rewarded.