As I reasoned this out my mind was immensely relieved, for I felt that as soon as my foot would enable me to proceed I could follow the trail and reach the settlements in comparative ease.
But as I must remain a virtual prisoner in the cabin for the present, I determined to make the hut as comfortable as possible and then conserve all my strength and nurse my foot back to usefulness; and, having eaten, I proceeded to put my house in order.
To repair the leaks in the roof would, I felt, be a difficult matter with my disabled leg, for I would be obliged to climb upon the roof from outside, and this I did not dare attempt. It occurred to me, however, that by placing layers of evergreen branches over the roof a great deal of the rain might be kept out, and this I was able to do by means of a forked pole. The branches, I felt, would blow off with the first wind, and to secure them in position I laid long, light poles diagonally over them, digging the upper ends of the poles into the old roof and lashing the ends at the eaves to the walls of the hut.
This simple matter occupied me until dark and proved a tremendous task, for I could use but one hand when hobbling about on my crutch and my progress back and forth from the neighboring woods was slow and painful. When the roof was at last finished I was utterly exhausted, and as soon as I had eaten and had placed a fresh poultice on my foot I crawled into my bunk. The door was still open, I had no coverings, and the night was cold, but the fire on the hearth warmed the interior of the cabin and I felt little discomfort from the chill; in fact, I slept better and felt warmer than I had for many nights, even though my shirt had been sacrificed to make bandages.
For several days thereafter I busied myself about the cabin, caught trout for my food, and nursed my wounds, and, much to my satisfaction, I found the ankle was growing no worse and that much of the pain had left it. Still, it did not recover as rapidly as I had hoped and I began to fear that it would be a long time before I would be able to use it again, or that it might heal badly and become useless forever. In rummaging about the cabin I found several articles left by the former owners, such as a couple of empty bottles, some old tin cans, and a rusty old steel file.
The bottles proved useful for storing my arnica brew and the cans I used in cooking, but the file seemed of no value. The clothes which I had seen hanging upon the walls were far too rotten to be of any use as clothing—no doubt they were cast aside as worthless by their former owners—but they were better than nothing as coverings at night, and by piecing them together with hemlock roots I managed to form a ludicrous sort of patchwork quilt which was a real comfort.
I had been at the cabin for about a week when I was aroused one night by a strange sound. Some one or something was moving across the floor. At first I was startled. I had been so long accustomed to solitude that the presence of another alarmed me. Then it flashed upon me that perhaps a former occupant of the cabin had returned and had entered, unsuspecting my presence. Overjoyed at the thought and without stopping to consider the consequences, I called out, “Hello!” and rose up in bed.
At the sound of my voice the footsteps ceased, there was a strange guttural reply from near the fireplace, and a queer rattling sound as of some one crumpling paper.
Puzzled, and now rather alarmed, I spoke again, and instantly the grunt was repeated and I heard the sound of shuffling footsteps hurriedly approaching my bed. Terrified, I shrank back, peering into the gloom of the cabin in an endeavor to discern the outlines of my mysterious visitor. The fire had died down, but a few red embers still gleamed upon the hearth and cast a faint glow in the immediate vicinity. At the very edge of this dim light I thought I saw a moving shadow—a great, bulky, shapeless form, crouched low, and stealing toward me. My nerves were on edge, and at the sight of this mysterious, formless, threatening figure I uttered a scream of mortal terror. With a sudden sideways motion the shadowy something stepped within the glow of the fire, and then I broke into a roar of laughter.