You must know that our house is not now as rough on the inside as it
would appear from what I first wrote. Father has saved the skins of all
the animals he has caught, and prepared them in the same way as do the
Indians, which makes the fleshy side look like fine leather. These we
have hung on the walls, and they not only serve to keep out the wind,
but are really beautiful. With the rough logs and the chinking of clay
hidden from view, it is easy to fancy that ours is a real house, such
as would be found in England.
We have many fox skins, for father has shot large numbers of foxes, and
in what seems to me a curious fashion. He saves all the fishes' heads
that can be come at, and on moonlight nights throws them among the
trees, where the foxes, getting the scent, give him a fair opportunity
for shooting.
Once he killed four in less than two hours, and we have hung them in
that corner of the kitchen which we call mother's. Thus it is that she
can sit leaning her shoulders against the warm fur, through which the
wind cannot come.
There is no need for me to tell you that we have more wolf skins than
any other kind, for our people find it necessary to kill such animals
in order to save their own lives. One night before all the snow had
melted from the ground, Degory Priest was coming through the forest
after attending to his traps, and was followed by five hungry wolves,
who kept close at his heels, and would have eaten the poor man but for
his industry in swinging a long pole that he carried to help himself
across the streams.
[Illustration]
Fortunately for Degory Priest, Captain Standish heard his outcries
while he was yet a long distance from the village, and went out with
three armed men to give him aid.