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"Angus I'm going to need your help for a bit. I want to get this started now. Each time it is used, sprinkle some of this mixture in the bag in the pot, it will keep it from smelling so badly. So, don't forget to use it each time. And we'll make a lid for it, too."
"What's in the bag?" Frank asked curiously.
"It's a combination of charred ashes with baking soda."
"What is it for?" Angus asked.
Aiden chuckled. "For the smell, Angus."
Angus came and smelled the bag, "Where on earth did you hear of this?"
He sighed, glanced at Lucy who was smiling. "An old Indian Shaman gave me the recipe for it. Said he couldn’t stand the odors when too many people live together. He experimented with it himself until he came up with this. You dig a hole in the grown first, build a seat, and a lid and that's all there is to it. It works well, so use this mixture when you have to use it, but a little goes a long way."
Everyone came up to look and smell it.
"It's a little messy on the hands to dig into it, but it works, that's what's important." Aiden assured them.
"An old Indian Shaman?" Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Stump Nose, as a matter of fact, you know him?"
She stared, "I do. He gave you the recipe?"
"He did!" He smiled.
"He usually doesn't share his knowledge." She couldn't stop the grin, "Well, I'll be… I didn't know he was still alive."
"Saw him last year up on the river, he was doing fine, had him a couple of squaws and they had a semi-permanent place to live."
Lucy and Pumpkin worked on the hide, while the men helped dig a hole for to indoor outhouse. It took a while to dig deep enough to do any good and then they made a small seat on top, strong enough to hold any of them so anyone could sit on it. He even made a lid to keep the odor away. He made it back behind the horses so it wouldn't leech out to the main part of the cave.
He showed them all it was like a miniature outhouse, inside. Everyone was shocked that they could make such a thing. Of course, it took nearly three hours, but most of the work was digging the hole, with that many people they needed a good size hole.
Angus took the remaining parts of the bear outside and buried it in the snow. The wind was so bad he could barely stand up against it. The snow was so thick it was hard to see. He hurried back inside. Pumpkin laughed as his mustache and beard were frozen practically.
With the portable outhouse, and the hole for the smoke and tunnel for the fire, all they needed now was the airhole at the entrance.
"For privacy everyone will have to use your blanket to lay over you when you use it. That's as good as we can do about that." Aiden told them.
Later after everyone ate, Gloria was the first to smile and admit she liked the roast.
"Bear is quite tasty," Lucy smiled at her, especially cooked over an open fire. "The Indians consider it a treat."
"I've heard they eat snakes too."
"Snakes are tasty too but I prefer bear to snake," Lucy told them.
The men began telling tales of their past adventures around the fire that night as the fire crackled in the quiet air.
Aiden and Angus made some brush around the door, so the snow wouldn't seep inside so easily. They put up the blanket. But thinking about it. Aiden knew he had to rig something up that would work if the snowdrift got too thick. "We'll need to keep some air holes, so the lack of air doesn't put the fire out and kill us."
"That's good thinking. How we going to rig it?" Angus asked him
There was an old burnt out barrel to the back of the cave, Aiden thought it might have been used on watering the animals by someone. Aiden shrugged, "Guess we'll have to use out hat to water the horses, and there's a piece of worn out pants we can tie up their food in, fee them one at a time. Get that barrel over here, we need to knock a hole in the bottom so we can knock the snow off and keep an airway open. We'll stick it in the side of the entrance up here so we can see out at the weather and get air too."
"Alright, I got ya. You got anything we can feed these horses?" Angus asked.
"We'll have to check the provisions in everyone's saddle bags. If anyone is carrying oats, we'll put it all together and give them a ration each day. If not, we'll just have to offer them our own food scraps."
