- Matt gets used to being alone mighty quickly, and by the next morning he's good to go and has decided that freedom is grand. He completes his chores on his own schedule and time starts to fly.
- That doesn't mean he's got time on his hands, though. Between chinking the logs, clearing more trees, and building up the firewood supply, Matt's got his hands full. Literally.
- Fire is the biggest annoyance. No, not a forest fire or anything like that—we're talking about keeping the fire lit through the night. Without neighbors, Matt doesn't have anyone to borrow a cup of flour from, let alone a live coal to start the fire going again. And waiting for a cooking fire? That definitely makes his tummy angry.
- The garden also requires tons of attention and work, including watering, weeding, and keeping crows away. Matt can't even grill up a crow or two for fear of wasting his gunpowder trying to hit them, and he tries to combat the pesky birds by staying up all night and sleeping during the day. It's an epic failure and the fire goes out. Argh.
- Matt's hunger is like an animal chewing him inside out, so he spends much of the day hunting with the trusty rifle. He's finally able to successfully kill things. Phew.
- But despite how hard his days are, Matt's feeling pretty hunky-dory about things… except for an annoying twitch in his brain when it comes to Indians. He's never seen one, and doesn't expect to (thanks to a treaty the Penobscot Indians made with the English), but sometimes he gets the creepy feeling that someone is watching him. Shudder.
- Matty boy thinks of his dad's advice about the Indians: Talk to them like you would a churchman, and the few who are left don't want trouble. (Looking for a little context and backstory about this? Click here.)
- Matt's pa practices what he preaches, and Matt saw him lift his hand respectfully to an Indian once. The trouble is that Matt can't see whoever it is watching him. Creepy.
- Despite feeling watched, Matt's not bothered by the quiet anymore. In fact he realizes that the forest is anything but quiet, especially at night—between the porcupine grunts (or squeaks), loon cries, and owl hoots, a regular symphony sings him to sleep.
- Sometimes Matt still thinks it would be nice to have someone to bounce ideas off of though, and he realizes he wouldn't even mind his little sister's company.