. Stephen of Philadelphia; a story of Penn's colony . mind, much asif he had said we would do the same, for verily it seemedlike the quickest way to get shelter for mother andour goods. 22 STEPHEN OF PHILADELPHIA Before sunset we had chosen a place on the riverbank where but few rocks could be seen, and wereworking like bees at what promised to be a cave ofsome considerable size, if so be our courage held out long night, how-ever, we slept undera screen of bushesin the forest, withina dozen yards ofwhere our under-ground house wasto be, and the sundid not come upany too soon toplea
. Stephen of Philadelphia; a story of Penn's colony . mind, much asif he had said we would do the same, for verily it seemedlike the quickest way to get shelter for mother andour goods. 22 STEPHEN OF PHILADELPHIA Before sunset we had chosen a place on the riverbank where but few rocks could be seen, and wereworking like bees at what promised to be a cave ofsome considerable size, if so be our courage held out long night, how-ever, we slept undera screen of bushesin the forest, withina dozen yards ofwhere our under-ground house wasto be, and the sundid not come upany too soon toplease me, for thenight air was sochill that my teethwere chatteringwith the cold a long while before it was possible tosee any signs of the coming day. Father built a small fire, so that mother might makeshift to prepare something for a morning meal; butshe, poor soul, had little idea how anything in theway of cooking could be done when there was nothingmore than a fire on the ground and one small kettle;therefore I, watching my chance when some of the. A TEDIOUS TASK 23 sailors were going out to the ship, took passage withthem. From the cook of the vessel I got as much in the wayof boiled beef and bread as would serve us three forfood during two days or more, and, returning to theshore with this, we soon broke our fast. A TEDIOUS TASK Before having dug very far into the bank of theriver, we came to understand that something in theway of timbers would be necessary to hold up the earthat the top, otherwise we should have it tumbling aboutour ears, and father took upon himself the work ofhewing logs, while mother and I dug and dug, throwingthe loose sand directly at the mouth of the openingto make there a roadway to the river below. Before we had made what might be called a goodbeginning of the task, I came to believe that it couldnot have been much harder work to build a house oflogs; but we had already expended so much strength,that it would have been foolish to drop the plan then
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