FOR FREEDOM AND FOR LOVE The hut of the Nihilist Portnoff stood in a thick bluff about midway between Wakota and the mine, but lying off the direct line about two miles nearer the ranch.

It was a poor enough shack, made of logs plastered over with mud, roofed with poplar poles, sod, and earth.

The floor was of earth, the walls were whitewashed, and with certain adornments that spoke of some degree of culture.
Near one side of the shack stood the clay oven stove, which served the double purpose of heating the room and of cooking Portnoff's food.

Like many of the Galician cabins, Portnoff's stood in the midst of a garden, in which bloomed a great variety of brilliant and old-fashioned flowers and shrubs, while upon the walls and climbing over the roof, a honeysuckle softened the uncouthness of the clay plaster.
It was toward the end of the third week which followed French's return that Portnoff and Malkarski were sitting late over their pipes and beer.

The shack was illumined with half a dozen candles placed here and there on shelves attached to the walls.