d he had a plan. Finally he announced
to Paul that they would build a raft.

"I believe this is the same river that runs by Wareville," he said. "I
never heard Ross or Shif'less Sol or any of the men speak of another
river, near enough for us to have reached it, since we've been wandering
around. So it must be the same. Now either we are above Wareville or we
are below it. We've got to guess at that and take the risk of it. We can
roll a lot of the logs and timber into the river, tie 'em together, and
float with the stream until we come to Wareville."

"But if we never come to it?" asked Paul.

"Then all we have to do is to get off the raft and follow the river back
up the bank. Then we are sure to reach home."

This was so plausible that Paul was full of enthusiasm and they decided
that they would set to work on the raft early in the morning.

CHAPTER IV

THE HAUNTED FOREST

As the two boys sat before their camp fire that night, after making
their plan, they were far from feeling gloomy. Another revulsion had
come. Safe, for the moment, after their recent run for life, it seemed
to them that they were safe for all time. They were rested, they had
eaten good food in plenty, and the fire was long since but a dim red
blur on the horizon. Ashes, picked up by wandering puffs of wind, still
floated here and there among the burned tree trunks, and now and then a
shower of sparks burst forth, as a bough into which the flames had eaten
deep, broke and fell to the ground; but fear had gone from the lads,
and, in its place, came a deep content. They were used to the forest,
and in the company of each other they felt neither loneliness nor
despair.

"It's good here," said Paul who was a reader and a philosopher. "I guess
a fellow's life looks best to him just after he's thought he was going
to lose it, but didn't."

"I think that's true," said Henry, glancing toward the far horizon,
where the red blur still showed under the twilight. "But that was just a
little too close for fun."

But his satisfaction was even deeper than Paul's. The wilderness and its
ways made a stronger appeal to him. Paul, without Henry, would have felt
loneliness and fear, but Henry alone, would have faced the night
undaunted. Already the great forest was putting upon him its magic
spell.

"Have you eaten enough, Paul?" he asked.

"I should like to eat more, but I'm afraid I can't find a place for it,"
replied Paul ruefully.

Henry