But no one was to look until the morning, and soon all fell asleep.
They were up the next day at the first sight of dawn, and compared their gifts with great rejoicings.

Shif'less Sol had presented to Jim Hart a splendid clasp knife, a valuable possession in the wilderness, as a token of his great friendship and exceeding high regard, and Jim was like a child in his delight.

In fact, there was something of the child, or rather of the child's simplicity, in all of them.
The Christmas dinner was a signal triumph in Jim Hart's life.

Capably assisted by Paul and Shif'less Sol, he labored on it most of the day, and at last they sat down to a magnificent wilderness table of buffalo hump, venison, squirrel, rabbit, fish, wild turkey, and other kinds of game, flanked by bread baked of the Indian meal, and finished off with the nuts Paul had gathered.

Forest and lake had yielded bounteously, and they ate long and happily.
"Why anybody wants to live back thar in the East in the towns is more'n I can understand," said Shif'less Sol.