He began to skirt the settlement, keeping well within the thick gloom of the woods, and presently, as he stumbled forward, he came to a small clearing in the center of which stood a log dwelling.

The place seemed deserted.

There was no sign of life, no light shone from the window, no smoke issued from the stick-and-mud chimney.
Tilted back in a chair by the door of this house a man was sleeping.

The hoot of an owl from a near-by oak roused him.

He yawned and stretched himself, thrusting out his fat legs and extending his great arms.