Theirs had not been a hard journey, only long and tedious--though neither to Henry--and now that its end was at hand, work must be begun.

They would have homes to build and a living to get from the ground.
"Why, I could live under the trees; I wouldn't want a house," whispered Henry to the guide, "and when I needed anything to eat, I'd kill game." "A hunter might do that," replied Ross, "but we're not all hunters an' only a few of us can be.

Sometimes the game ain't standin' to be shot at just when you want it, an' as for sleepin' under the trees it's all very fine in summer, if it don't rain, but 'twould be just a least bit chilly in winter when the big snows come as they do sometimes more'n a foot deep.

I'm a hunter myself, an' I've slept under trees an' in caves, an' on the sheltered side of hills, but when the weather's cold give me for true comfort a wooden floor an' a board roof.

Then I'll bargain to sleep to the king's taste." But Henry was not wholly convinced.