It was in the winter.

The waters about the grounds were frozen up.

The provisions in the house were nearly exhausted, there being scarcely anything remaining.

The men went away with their fishing apparatus, and with their bows and arrows, in hopes of procuring some fish or fowl to replenish their stores.

Alfred was left alone, with only a single lady of his family, who is called in the account "Mother," though it could not have been Alfred's own mother, as she had been dead many years.