Now the ground was thickly covered with the nuts which had fallen when the severe frosts and the snow and ice came.
There were several varieties, including large ones two inches long, and the fine little ones known to boys throughout the Mississippi Valley as the scaly bark.

Paul procured two stones, and, cracking several of them, found them delicious to the taste.

Already in his Kentucky home he had become familiar with them all.

The hogs of the settlers, running through the forest and fattening upon these nuts and acorns, known collectively as "mast," acquired a delicious flavor.

Boys and grown people loved the nuts, too.
The nuts lay about in great quantities, and the thick, barky coverings, known to the boys as "hulls," almost fell off at a touch.