eam chattered
about the stones like one of nature's busiest gossips; it whispered to
the flowers, murmured to the rushes and was voluble to the overhanging
branch that dragged upon the surface of the water. The flowers on its
brim nodded, the rushes waved and the branch bent as if in assent to
the mad gossip of the blithesome brook. And it seemed as though all
this animated conversation was caused by the encampment of the band of
players by the wayside.

The repast finished, they turned their attention to the injured
chariot, but fortunately the damage was not beyond repair, and Barnes,
actor, manager, bill-poster, license-procurer, added to his already
extensive repertoire the part of joiner and wheelwright. The skilled
artisans in coachmaking and coach-repairing might not have regarded
the manager as a master-workman, but the fractured parts were finally
set after a fashion. By that time, however, the sun had sunk to rest
upon a pillow of clouds; the squirrels, law-abiding citizens, had
sought their homes; the woodpecker had vanished in his snug chamber,
and only forest dwellers of nocturnal habits were now abroad, their
name legion like the gad-abouts of a populous city.

"There!" exclaimed the manager, surveying his handiwork. "The 'bus is
ready! But there is little use going on to-night. I am not sure of the
road and here is a likely spot to pass the night."

"Likely to be devoured by wild beasts," said Kate, with a shudder.

"I am sure I see two glistening eyes!" exclaimed Susan.

"Fudge!" observed the elastic old lady. "That's the first time you
have been afraid of two-glistening eyes."

"There's a vast difference between wolves and men," murmured Susan.

"I'm not so sure of that," returned the aged cynic.

But as the light of day was withdrawn a great fire sprang up,
illumining the immediate foreground. The flames were cheering, drawing
the party more closely together. Even Hawkes partly discarded his
tragedy face; the old lady threw a bundle of fifty odd years from her
shoulders as easily as a wood-carrier would cast aside his miserable
stack of fagots, while Barnes forgot his troubles in narrating the
harrowing experience of a company which had penetrated the west at a
period antedating the settlement of the Michigan and Ohio boundary
dispute.

The soldier alone was silent, curiously watching the play of light and
shade on the faces of the strollers, his gaze resting longest,
perhaps, on the feature