dom which now stirred in the boy's
heart, understood, and felt warmly drawn toward the lad. He said
nothing, though as he watched Joe his eyes were grave and kind. In
his long frontier life, where many a day measured the life and fire
of ordinary years, he had seen lad after lad go down before this
forest fever. It was well, he thought, because the freedom of the
soil depended on these wild, light-footed boys; yet it always made
him sad. How many youths, his brother among them, lay under the
fragrant pine-needle carpet of the forest, in their last earthly
sleep!

The "raising" brought out all the settlement--the women to look on
and gossip, while the children played; the men to bend their backs
in the moving of the heavy timbers. They celebrated the erection of
a new cabin as a noteworthy event. As a social function it had a
prominent place in the settlers' short list of pleasures.

Joe watched the proceeding with the same pleasure and surprise he
had felt in everything pertaining to border life.

To him this log-raising appeared the hardest kind of labor. Yet it
was plain these hardy men, these low-voiced women, and merry
children regarded the work as something far more significant than
the mere building of a cabin. After a while he understood the
meaning of the scene. A kindred spirit, the spirit of the pioneer,
drew them all into one large family. This was another cabin; another
home; another advance toward the conquering of the wilderness, for
which these brave men and women were giving their lives. In the
bright-eyed children's glee, when they clapped their little hands at
the mounting logs, Joe saw the progress, the march of civilization.

"Well, I'm sorry you're to leave us to-night," remarked Colonel Zane
to Joe, as the young man came over to where he, his wife, and sister
watched the work. "Jonathan said all was ready for your departure at
sundown."

"Do we travel by night?"

"Indeed, yes, my lad. There are Indians everywhere on the river. I
think, however, with Jack and Lew handling the paddles, you will
slip by safely. The plan is to keep along the south shore all night;
then cross over at a place called Girty's Point, where you are to
remain in hiding during daylight. From there you paddle up Yellow
Creek; then portage across country to the head of the Tuscarwawas.
Another night's journey will then bring you to the Village of
Peace."

Jim and Mr. Wells, with his nieces, joined the party now, and al