“Have you been eating and sleeping here?”

“Of course,” answered Bub.

“In the Lodge?”

“No; over in Talbot’s house.  That’s over the ridge, yonder; it’s only a step, but ye kain’t see it f’m here.  My home’s in the South Holler, four mile away.”

“Do you cook your own meals?”

“Nobudy else ter do it.”

“And don’t you get dreadfully lonesome at night?”

“Who?  Me?  Guess not.  What the Sam Hill is they to be lonesome over?”

“There are no near neighbors, are there?”

“Plenty.  The Barker house is two mile one way an’ the Bigbee house is jus’ half a mile down the slope; guess ye passed it, comin’ up; but they ain’t no one in the Bigbee house jus’ now, ’cause Bigbee got shot on the mount’n las’ year, a deer hunt’n’, an’ Bigbee’s wife’s married another man what says he’s delicate like an’ can’t leave the city.  But neighbors is plenty.  Six mile along the canyon lives Doolittle.”

Irene was delighted with Bub’s quaint language and ways and before Mrs. Conant called her family to the simple improvised dinner the chair-girl had won the boy’s heart and already they were firm friends.

CHAPTER XIV

A CALL FROM AGATHA LORD

Hillcrest Lodge was perched upon a broad shelf of the wooded mountain, considerably nearer to the bottom than to the top, yet a stiff climb from the plain below.  Behind it was a steep cliff; in front there was a gradual descent covered with scrub but affording a splendid view of the lowlands.  At one side was the rocky canyon with its brook struggling among the boulders, and on the other side the roadway that wound up the mountain in zigzag fashion, selecting the course of least resistance.

Will Morrison was doubtless a mighty hunter and an expert fisherman, for the “den” at the rear of the Lodge was a regular museum of trophies of the chase.  Stag and doe heads, enormous trout mounted on boards, antlers of wild mountain sheep, rods, guns, revolvers and hunting-knives fairly lined the wails, while a cabinet contained reels, books of flies, cartridge belts, creels and many similar articles.  On the floor were rugs of bear, deer and beaver.  A shelf was filled with books on sporting subjects.  There was a glass door that led onto a little porch at the rear of the Lodge and a big window that faced the cliff.

This sanctum of the owner rather awed the girls when first they examined it, but they found it the most fascinating place in all the house and Irene was delighted to be awarded the bedroom that adjoined it.  The other bedrooms were on the upper floor.

“However,” said Mr. Conant to Irene, “I shall reserve the privilege of smoking my evening pipe in this den, for here is a student lamp, a low table and the easiest chairs in all the place.  If you keep your bedroom door shut you won’t mind the fumes of tobacco.”