“I had built a big stone fireplace in one corner of the cabin, and had big sticks of pine piled up to the roof and a lot just outside of the door. You know how pitch pine will burn.”
“Needn’t tell us,” cried the audience in chorus.
“Besides wood, I had enough grub to stand a siege, as I was always forehanded.”
“Must have been durn lonesome,” commented Jo. “Grub and firewood ain’t everything.”
“That sort of business would just suit me,” put in Juarez.
“Well, I wasn’t entirely alone,” said the shepherd.
“Wife with you?” cut in Tom, who could be over-smart at times. Jim noticed that the shepherd winced at the careless question, and he put a grip on Tom’s knee that meant that the said Tom had better keep his mouth shut.
“A man don’t take his wife into such a wilderness as that,” said Jim.
“Go on, Jeems, and there won’t be any more personal interruptions.”