Oscar had discovered an otter-slide on the banks of the stream; and that indicated that fur-bearing animals were to be found in the vicinity. He had seen a big-horn watching him from the summit of a distant hill; the first blow he struck with his axe, when he went out to cut logs for the cabin, had frightened from his concealment in the bushes the first mule-deer he had ever seen; and a herd of lordly elk, led by a magnificent buck, which Oscar resolved he would one day secure, had fled precipitately at the sight of their first camp-fire. But such harmless animals as these were not the only inhabitants of the valley. The fierce carnivora that preyed upon them had followed them from the mountains; and the first night that Oscar passed in the valley had been enlivened by a chorus from a pack of gray wolves, followed by a solo from a panther. A trap, baited with a muskrat, which Oscar had set for a mink, was robbed by a wolverine; and one morning, while they were out hunting for their breakfast, Big Thompson showed him where a bear had crossed the brook. All these things seemed to indicate that their opportunities for sport and excitement would prove to be excellent. The hunters’ first care, on arriving at their camping-ground, was to provide a house for themselves, which they did by erecting a neat and roomy log cabin in the sheltered nook before spoken of. It was different from those erected by the early settlers, in that it had no windows and no chimney; all the light, during the daytime, being admitted through the door, and through an opening in the roof, at which the smoke passed out. Under this opening a hole about two feet square had been dug in the dirt floor, and this served as the fireplace. Oscar and his guide had been exceedingly busy during the last three days; but now their work was all done, and they were securely housed for the winter. Although it was cold and bleak outside, the interior of the cabin was warm and cheerful. A fire burned merrily on the hearth; and, by the aid of the light it threw out, one could easily see that the hunters had not neglected to provide for their comfort in various ways. The cabin was provided with a table, a cupboard for the dishes, and a stool for each of its occupants—all made of slabs split from pine-logs, hewn smooth with an axe; and the various articles comprising their outfit were disposed about the room in orderly array. There were no buffalo-robes for beds, but there were fragrant pine-boughs instead, blankets in abundance, and a joint of venison hanging from the rafters overhead. One end of the cabin was occupied by the wagon, which had been taken to pieces and stored there for protection from the weather.