Strong, willing and well trained hands hewed and fitted the logs together.

Alexander Ferguson lined the fireplace with a curious mortar made of clay in which he mixed grass for a binder.

This mortar he rolled into layers called "cats," each eight inches long and three inches thick.

Then he laid them against the logs and held them in place with a woven network of sticks.
The first fire--a slow one--baked the clay into a rigid stone-like sheath inside the logs and presently the sticks were burned away.

The women had cooked the meats by an open fire and spread the dinner on a table of rough boards resting on poles set in crotches.