We learned from them though that we should find for days to come shanties here and there.
“Where we can rest for the night?” I said to one of the men.
“Of course,” he said, with a smile. “We see anybody so seldom, that we’re glad of a visitor who can speak of the old country.”
“You’ve got a beautiful place here.”
“Yes; tidy, tidy,” he said; “only we don’t feel quite sure about the river.”
“What do you mean?” asked Gunson.
“Why, you see, mate, it’s a lively sort of a stream. Quiet enough in winter, unless there’s been a power of rain; but in the hot weather, when the snow’s melting, it gets so full, that like as not some day t’ll wash all this place away.”
“But it’s fifty feet down there to the water,” I said, smiling.
“What’s fifty feet to a river like that, boy? Why, after what I’ve seen I shouldn’t jump out of my skin if I saw it rise up a hundred.”
“See many bears about?” said Esau, rather anxiously.