l come out here again, depend upon it," answered Neal. "Drop me
a line occasionally, won't you, Roy? Here's our Manchester address."

"I will, if you'll do the same."

"Agreed. Good-by again, old fellow!"

"I've got the slip of birch-bark and the horn safe in my knapsack, Doc,"
Dol was saying meanwhile, feeling his eyes getting leaky as he bade
farewell to the doctor. "I--I'll keep them as long as I live."

Doctor Phil had been as good as his word. He had made Joe rip the slip
of white bark, with the rude writing on it, off the pine-tree near the
swamp, and had presented it to Dol ere the boy quitted his camp.

"Well, confusion to partings anyhow!" broke in Joe. "Don't like 'em a
bit. Hope you'll get that bear-skin safe to England, Neal. When you show
it to your folks at home, tell 'em Joe Flint said he knew one Britisher
who would make a woodsman if he got a chance. Don't you forgit it."

"Good-by," said the doctor, as he clasped in turn the hands of the
departing three. "Good luck to you, boys! Keep your souls as straight as
your bodies, and you'll be a trio worth knowing. We'll meet again some
day; I'm sure of it."

Martin and Will were chirping farewells, and lamenting that they would
have no more chances of studying water-snakes in sedgy pools with Dol.
Amid cheers and waving of hats the campers separated.

"Forward, Company Three!" cried Cyrus encouragingly, stepping briskly
ahead, his comrades following. "Now for a sight of the 'Jabberwock' of
the forest, the mighty moose. Hurrah for the wild woods and all
woodsmen!"

CHAPTER XIV.

A LUCKY HUNTER.

Amid cracking of jokes, and noise which would have disgraced a squad of
Indians, "Company Three," as Cyrus dubbed his reduced band, reached the
crowning-point of their journey, the log camp on the shore of
Millinokett Lake.

During the first half-dozen miles of the way, though each one manfully
did his best to be lively, a sense of loss made their fun flat and
pointless. Royal's tear-away tongue, his brothers' racket, Joe's racy
talk, Uncle Eb's kind, dark face, and more than all, Doc's
companionship, which was as tonic to the hearts of those who travelled
with him, were missed.

But spirits must be elastic in forest air. When they halted at noon to
eat their "snack" on the side of a breezy knoll, with a tiny brook
purling through a pine grove beneath them, with Katahdin's rugged sides
and cloud-veiled peaks looming in majesty to the north, the