paddled by a
tall boy with a cap ornamented by tall feathers.

Paul nearly dropped his paddle as he saw Anna at the river's edge.

"However did you get here?" he exclaimed, as with a swift stroke of his
paddle he sent his canoe to shore.

Anna told him quickly of the capture of Trit, the leaking boat, and her
jump to safety, while Paul listened with astonished eyes, and, in his
turn, told of the discovery of the honey-tree, and then of the search
for Anna.

"Your father and Rebby are sadly frightened," he concluded; "they are
well on the way home now, thinking possibly you might have followed the
path. Now, get in the canoe, and I'll try my best to get you home by the
time they reach the settlement."

Anna sat in the bottom of the canoe, and Paul skilfully wielded the
paddle, sending the little craft swiftly down the river.

"That bucket is full of honey," he said, nodding toward the bow of the
canoe. But Anna was not greatly interested in the honey; she had even
forgotten that she was hungry and thirsty. She could think only of her
father and Rebby searching along the path for some trace of her.

It was late in the afternoon when the canoe swept across the river to
the same landing where Paul had fastened the liberty tree earlier in the
month. And in a few moments Anna was running up the path toward home,
followed by Paul with the bucket of honey.

"Why, child! Where are Father and Rebby? and where is your cap?"
questioned Mrs. Weston.

"Oh, Mother!" began Anna, but now the tears could not be kept back, and
held close in her mother's arms she sobbed out the story of the capture
of Trit, and all that had followed. And then Paul told the story of the
honey-tree, and his story was not finished when Anna exclaimed: "Father!
Rebby!" and ran toward the door.

How Mr. Weston's face brightened when he saw Danna safe and sound, and
how closely Rebby held her little sister, as Anna again told the story
of her journey down the river.

When Paul started for home Mrs. Weston insisted that a generous portion
of the bucket of honey should go with him; and Trit, safely fastened in
a small basket, was sent to Luretta as a gift from Anna. He promised to
be ready the next morning to return to the falls with Mr. Weston in the
canoe to bring home the store of honey.

As the Westons gathered about the table for their evening meal they
looked at each other with happy faces.

"I couldn't feel happier if the _Polly_ were in po