While the two warmed their hands at the hearth, he bustled off towards the rear of the cabin and disappeared through a doorway that led into another room.
Dorothy looked at Bill and smiled delightedly.
The cabin was primitive though there was a cozy and homelike air about it. The chinks between the bark of the logs which formed the walls were stuffed with dry moss and clay. There was no ceiling to the room. One looked up through the cross beams clear to the gable of the slanting roof. From these sturdy four-by-fours hung half a ham, several bunches of onions, a pair of rubber boots and other oddments. Wide boards had been laid across them in a couple of places, evidently to provide holdalls for other paraphernalia.
The small room’s principal article of furniture was a rustic, handmade table. Three stools without backs and an armchair of like manufacture completed the furnishings if one did not count several shining pots and pans that hung on nails driven into the logs and a huge pile of kindling that took up an entire corner. A steaming kettle hung from a crane over the fire and the floor of the room flaunted a large mat woven of brightly colored grasses.
“He keeps everything as neat as a new pin,” Dorothy whispered. “Isn’t he perfectly sweet?”
“Wonder how he happens to be here,” said Bill. “This shelter is state property.”
“Shush—he’s coming.”
The old darky ambled into the room again, grinning from ear to ear. Ol’ Man River, as he called himself, quite evidently enjoyed bestowing hospitality. Over one arm he carried a bundle of clothes.
“Ise mighty thankful dat yo’all come ’long dis evenin’,” he exclaimed. “It sho’ do get mighty lonesome up in dese hyar woods—speshally on a black night when de rain come an’ de wind howl roun’ dis cabin. I brought you all some clo’s. ’Twant much I could find, jes’ overalls and shirts, like what Ise got on. But dey is dry and dey is as clean an’ sweet as soap and rainwater can make ’em.”
Dorothy took the faded blue flannel shirt and overalls he held out to her. “Thank you, Uncle. You certainly are kind and thoughtful, but it’s a shame to use your clean clothes this way.”