And there was a creaky turn of the wagon, a disembarkment, and an unloading of various things.  There was all the kit for a hunter of the northern woods, and there were things in addition which indicated that the hunter was not alone this time.  There was a tent which had more than ordinarily selected fixtures to it, and there were two real steamer-chairs with backs, and there were four or five of what in the country they call “comforts,” or “comforters,” great quilts, thickly padded, generally covered with a design in white of stars or flowers on beaming red, and there were rods and guns and numerous utensils for plain cooking.

The wagon with its horses and its driver turned about and tumbled along the roadway on its return, and there were left alone in the forest, miles from civilization, miles from any human being save the driver fast leaving them, the man and woman and the setter dog.

They did not appear depressed or alarmed by the circumstance.

The load from the wagon had been left in a heap.  The man pulled from it a camp-chair with a back, and opened it, and set it up on the grass very near the edge of the glade, and announced that the throne was ready for the Empress, not of Great Britain and India, nor of any other part of the earth, but of the World; it was ready, and would she take her seat?

He explained that, as, at present, there were some things she didn’t know anything about, she might as well sit in state.  So the Empress, who was not very big, sat in state.

The dog had pursued a rabbit, and was making a fool of himself.  The man selected from among the baggage left an ax, heavy and keen, and attacked a young spruce tree near.  It soon fell with a crash, and the Empress leaped up, but to sit down again and look interestedly at what was going on.

The man, the tree fallen, sheared off its wealth of fragrant tips, and laid the mass of it by the side of the great tree.  Then from out the wagon’s leavings he dragged a tent, a simple thing, and, setting up two crotched sticks with a cross-pole, soon had it in its place.  He carried the mass of spruce-tips by armfuls to the tent and dumped them within it until there was a great heap of soft, perfumed greenness there.  Then, over all, he spread a quilt or two, and announced, with much form, to her majesty, that her couch was prepared for her, and that she could sit in the front of the tent if she wished.

And he cut and put in place two more forked stakes, with a cross-bar, and hung a kettle and built a fire beneath, and brought water and got out a frying-pan and bread and prepared for supper.  All articles not demanded for immediate use were stowed away just back of the tent.  “And,” he remarked, “there you are.”

The Empress rose from her camp-chair and investigated.

“Are we to sleep in the tent, Grant?”

“Yes.”

“What will we do if it rains?”