It was the last idle day we had for some time, for we had an abundance of work to get through before the return of spring, which was now rapidly approaching.  It was the least pleasant time of the year, too; for we had thaws of two or three days at a time, during which the hardened snow was turned into slush.  Then frost would come on again, and hold the timber with such a grasp that we could not move it.  We occupied the time in putting up sheds, and in such other work as could be done before the ground was clear.  No one, however, complained; for we knew that the snow would soon disappear, that the leaves would again come forth, and that the rivers would be open, when we should be able to move about much more rapidly in our canoes than we had done over the frozen ground.