“Yes, they came down exactly the same time—so Cora says.”
“Then the wager is a tie, Harry. Well, I don’t care, do you?”
“No. After this, I reckon we had best attend to business and leave matches at tree-cutting alone.”
It was not until the next day that the boys went at the wood-cutting once more, and they were careful to keep out of danger, and Harry was especially careful as to where he let his chips fly when chopping.
At the end of two weeks the boys had a large pile of wood stacked up close to the rear door of the cabin. This was made up mostly of tree branches chopped and sawed into convenient lengths for the open fireplace. The large tree-trunks were left where they fell, to be cut up after the sap was partly out of them and to be hauled to the dooryard on a sled during the winter, when the ground was covered with snow.
As long as there was good fishing the boys spent one day a week at this sport, and always managed to bring in a fine mess. By using the fish Mrs. Parsons was able to economize with her salt and smoked meats, which would give them so much more food for the long winter months.
Before long the nights became nipping cold and there was a heavy frost on the ground in the morning. The frost opened the burs of the nuts in the woods and the two young pioneers spent two afternoons bringing in nuts of several varieties, which were spread out on the flooring of the cabin loft.
During the autumn Harry had located a bee tree, and he was very anxious to find out what amount of honey it contained.
“Let us go out to-morrow after the honey,” he said, one day.
“I’m willing,” answered Joe. “But we’ll have to be careful, or the bees will sting us up well.”