n the woods had been hard upon Paul. Henry did not realize until
this moment how very hard it had been. The sight of that smoke had not
come too soon.

There was a shout from the bank followed by the crash of bodies among
the undergrowth.

"Smoke me, but here they are! A-floatin' down the river in their own
boat, as comfortable as two lords!"

It was the voice of Shif'less Sol, and his face, side by side with that
of Ross, the guide, appeared among the trees at the river's brink. Henry
felt a great flush of joy when he saw them, and waved his hands. Paul,
awakened by the shouts, was in a daze at first, but when he beheld old
friends again his delight was intense.

Henry thrust a pole against the bottom and shoved the raft to the bank.
Then he and Paul sprang ashore and shook hands again and again with Ross
and Sol. Ross told of the long search for the two boys. He and Mr. Ware
and Shif'less Sol and a half dozen others had never ceased to seek them.
They feared at one time that they had been carried off by savages, but
nowhere did they find Indian traces. Then their dread was of starvation
or death by wild animals, and they had begun to lose hope.

Both Henry and Paul were deeply moved by the story of the grief at
Wareville. They knew even without the telling that this sorrow had never
been demonstrative. The mothers of the West were too much accustomed to
great tragedies to cry out and wring their hands when a blow fell.
Theirs was always a silent grief, but none the less deep.

Then, guided by Ross and the shiftless one, they proceeded to Wareville
which was really at the bottom of the smoke spire, where they were
received, as two risen from the dead, in a welcome that was not noisy,
but deep and heartfelt. The cow, the original cause of the trouble, had
wandered back home long ago.

"How did you live in the forest?" asked Mr. Ware of Henry, after the
first joy of welcome was shown.

"It was hard at first, but we were beginning to learn," replied the boy.
"If we'd only had our rifles 'twould have been no trouble. And father,
the wilderness is splendid!"

The boy's thoughts wandered far away for a moment to the wild woods
where he again lay in the shade of mighty oaks and saw the deer come
down to drink. Mr. Ware noticed the expression on Henry's face and took
reflection. "I must not let the yoke bear too heavy upon him," was his
unspoken thought.

But Paul's joy was unalloyed; he preferred life at Wareville