Fred allowed a smile to come upon
his face in anticipation of the look of surprise he felt sure would
welcome him.

As it happened, however, the surprise was pretty much the other way. The
door suddenly flew open, at least the upper half of it did, and Arnold
Masterson thrust the muzzle of a double-barrel shotgun through the
opening, at the same time exclaiming:

"Now be off with you, or I'll give you a dose of buck shot that you
won't like!"

He had just managed to say this when he stared at the figure standing
there. Of course Fred had been startled when so suddenly confronted by
the armed and angry farmer; but he immediately recovered.

"Hold on, Mr. Masterson, don't you know me? It's Fred Fenton!" he
exclaimed.

The farmer seemed too surprised for words. But he did hasten to unfasten
the remaining part of the Dutch door, and seize hold of the boy by the
short sleeve of his running tunic.

"Fred Fenton, of all things, and right now too, when we were just
talking about your folks. Come in, my boy, come in. This is a piece of
great luck now. Whatever brings you away up here just at the time we
wanted to see you most? Great news for you, Fred! He's come home again,
and is right in there. Sarah wanted him to hide, because she thought it
was one of my uncle's spies hanging around; but I said no, that they'd
never believe it was him, not in a year of Sundays."

"Who?" gasped Fred, feeling weak; but with a great expectation that
caused him to tremble all over.

The farmer patted him on the back as he went on to say, joyfully:

"It's my brother Hiram, come back to right the wrong he helped do your
people; and defy Uncle Sparks to his face. This is going to be a happy
night for you, Fred; a happy night, my boy!"

CHAPTER XX

A WELCOME GUEST

"Hiram come back!"

That was about all Fred could say. After all these dreary months, with
hope so long deferred, it was hard to understand that the splendid news
could be true. Oh! what joy it would bring in his home, when he arrived
to tell the story! In imagination even at that first moment, Fred could
see the tired face of his mother light up with thankfulness; and his
father taking her in his arms, to shelter her head on his broad
shoulder.

For the return of Hiram meant that the truth must be told about that
false claim the powerful syndicate had put in for the property left to
Mr. Fenton by his brother Fred, up in Alaska; and which had seemed so
necessa