Shenandoah Read Online Free Page A

his cave.  There was nothing there.  At his second snare was a small rabbit.  It wasn’t very big but he wasn’t picky.  It hadn’t been there long because it wasn’t frozen yet.  He quickly field dressed the rabbit and washed his hands off in the stream.  His fingers ached after having them exposed cleaning the rabbit and then the cold water.  He attached the rabbit to his belt loop, put his hands back in his pockets, and gradually stumbled and limped on down the trail to his next snare as the snow continued to fall heavily.
    The next snare was empty.  Heading toward his fourth snare John tripped and fell several times in the snow.  Although he had been healing, the pain from the falls was almost unbearable.  After he would fall, he would lay there in the snow and wait until the pain subsided.  The fourth snare was empty also.  With the beating he was taking from the falls, John almost turned and went back.  The fifth snare was over two miles from the cave, the terrain was very rough, and John was really struggling.  He knew he would need the food if he was lucky enough to have snared something so he continued on.
    The fifth snare was at the top of a hill nestled inside a dense copse of pines.  There was a squirrel caught in the snare.  It was barely caught and was still moving around.  John came in slowly.  Most people think squirrels are sweet, playful animals.  They are normally but when they are cornered they will attack.  They have two razor-like front teeth along with long, super-sharp claws on their feet.  That’s why they can easily climb and jump from tree to tree with such ease. 
    John had his knife but that would put him in close range of those teeth.  He looked around until he found a three inch thick branch that was about four feet long.  Taking the branch, John eased closer to the squirrel.  Its back leg was caught in the snare and he was facing John.  Its tail began to twitch as it assumed a defensive posture.
    John had the branch over his head ready to swing when the squirrel came loose from the snare.  It jumped to the left and raced off the hill.  John wasn’t about to let it go so he jumped and swung the branch hard.  He just missed it and hit the ground hard.  In the process of swinging, he also lost his footing in the snow and slipped and fell.  He was too close to the steeper part of the hill and he started sliding and tumbling down the side of the hill.  He tried to use the trees to slow himself down but was not successful.  He travelled over seventy-five yards to the bottom of the hill. 
    He lay there in the snow trying to catch his breath.  The pain in his shoulder was throbbing.  After a while, he finally was able to sit up.  Lucky for him, there were still no signs of any dinosaurs.  He looked around trying to get his bearings.  It was then he noticed that the stream he had followed had a small tributary that flowed into a large pond up ahead.  He was looking at the pond when he noticed a larger stand of huge trees located near the stream.  It wasn’t the trees that were interesting.  It was the large elaborate tree house that was entwined in the top of the trees.  It was the size of a small house and it had an integrated staircase that circled the perimeter of the trunk of the largest tree.  The staircase travelled all the way to the ground.  It was camouflaged in such a way that if it hadn’t been for the snow, John would never have seen it. Easing himself to his feet, John dusted off the snow and headed that way. 
    John was tired and hurting but the sight of the tree house had invigorated him.  It was over a half mile to the foot of the tree.  He slowly walked around the huge tree looking at the ascending stair case.  If you wiped the snow off of the stairs, the staircase blended in with the tree.  He wasn’t sure how old the house was but it was expertly made.  The house could be five years old or it could have been twenty.   He