CHAPTER XV

WORK AND PLAY

Henry and Ross were gone to the mainland, and Paul, Shif’less Sol, and Jim Hart were left on the island.  Shif’less Sol stood at the edge of the hollow, hands on hips, admiring the hut.

“Paul,” he said, “I think that thar house is jest about the finest I ever built.”

“You built!” exclaimed Jim Hart indignantly.  “Mighty little you had to do with it, Sol Hyde, but eat in it an’ sleep in it, which two things you are willin’ enough to do any time!  It’s me an’ Paul who have reared that gran’ structure.”

“It appeals to my instincts as an eddicated man,” went on Sol, calmly disregarding Jim.  “We’ve got up the house without sp’ilin’ the surroundin’s.  It jest blends with rock an’ bush, an’ we’ve helped natur’ without tryin’ to improve it.”

“I believe you’ve got the truth of it, Sol,” said Paul.  “I’m getting fond of this place.  How long do you think we’ll stay here, Sol?”

Shif’less Sol cocked up his weather eye, and a look of surpassing wisdom came over his face.

“When the ground hog come out o’ his hole in the fall an’ saw his shadder, he went right back ag’in,” he replied, “an’ that means a hard winter.  Besides, we’re pretty far north, an’ all the hunters say they have lot o’ snow hereabouts.  We’re goin’ to have cold an’ snow right along.  That’s the opinion o’ me, Solomon Hyde.  Jim Hart may say somethin’ else, but he ain’t worth listenin’ to.”

“I said this mornin’ that it wuz goin’ to be a hard winter,” growled Jim Hart.  “You heard me sayin’ so, an’ that’s the reason you’re sayin’ so now.”

“Oh, Jim, Jim!  Whatever will become o’ you?” exclaimed Shif’less Sol sadly.  “An’ I’ve always tried to teach you that the truth wuz the right thing.”

Paul laughed.

“Sol,” he asked, “did you ever see a game of chess?”

“Chess?  What’s that?  Is it a mark you shoot at?”

“No; you play it on a board with little figures made of wood, if you haven’t got anything else.  My father has a set of chessmen, and he plays often with Mr. Pennypacker, our school teacher.  He’s played with me, too, and I can show you how to make the things and to play.”

A look of interest came into Sol’s eyes.

“We’ve got lots o’ time,” he said.  “S’pose you do it, Paul.  I know I kin learn.  I ain’t so sure o’ Jim Hart thar.”

Jim was also interested, so much so that he forgot to reply to Shif’less Sol.

“How’ll you do it?” he asked.

Paul’s reply was to begin at once.  He cut a big square piece of white fanned deerskin, and upon this he marked the little squares with coal-black.  Then the three of them went to work with their sharp hunting knives, carving out the wooden figures.  The results were crude, but they had enough shape for identification, and then Paul began to teach the game itself.