Long practice had given them high skill, and four of them set to work with their tomahawks to build a hut of bark and poles, working swiftly, dextrously and mostly in silence, while Silent Tom went back to the fishing. They toiled that day and at least half the night with poles and bark, and by noon the next day they had finished a little cabin, which they were sure would hold, with the aid of the great trees, against anything. It had a floor of poles smoothed with dead leaves, one small window and a low door, over which they purposed to hang blankets if a blowing rain came. Throughout their hard labors they had an abundance of fish, but nothing else, and they not only began to long for other food, but health demanded it as well. "Ef Long Jim Hart offers fish to me, ag'in," said the shiftless one, "I'll take it an' cram it down his own throat." "And then how'll you live?" asked Paul. "I think I'll take Long Jim hisself an' eat him, beginnin' at his head, which is the softest part o' him." "Now that the cabin is done," said Henry, "maybe we can devote some attention to hunting." "Huntin' in black mud that'll suck you down to your waist in a second?" said Shif'less Sol. "I think I might find a pathway on the other side of the stream, and this swamp ought to hold a lot of game. Bears love swamps, and I might run across a deer." "Would the Indians hear you if you fired?" asked Paul. "No, we're too far in for the sound of a rifle to reach 'em. Still, I won't start today. I suppose we can stand the fish until tomorrow." "We have to stand 'em," said Shif'less Sol, "an' that bein' the case I think I'll look ag'in at our beautiful house which hasn't a nail or a spike in it, but is jest held together by withes an' vines, but held together well jest the same." "Ain't it fine?" said Long Jim with genuine admiration. "It's jest 'bout the finest house that ever stood on this o-sis." "That, at least, is true," said Paul. They did not sleep in the cabin that night, as they intended to use it only in bad weather, but made good beds on the leaves outside. Shif'less Sol was the first to awake, and it was scarcely dawn when he arose. Happening to look toward the brook delight overspread his face like a sunrise, and laughing softly to himself he took his own rifle and Long Jim's. Then he crept forward without noise, and making sure of his aim, fired both rifles so closely together that one would have thought it was a double barreled weapon. The four leaped to their feet, and, clearing the sleep from their eyes, ran in the direction of the shots. But the shiftless one was already walking proudly back toward them. "What is it, Sol?" cried Paul.