tarts to round 'em up. If he gets back
with them in time to catch them outlaws, may the Lord have mercy on
their murderin' sin-stained souls, for the young chap will have 'em
slowly tortured to death if he catches them."

"Tell us all about your trip," Walter urged, "how did we get separated,
I wonder?"

"It puzzled me for a bit as to what had become of you, but the chief
soon explained it by saying that you likely had taken another stream.
Chris an' I was for turnin' back an' huntin' you, but the chief
reasoned us out of it, by saying that you might have taken any one of a
dozen forks and that there would be mighty little chance of our hitting
on the right one, while we would be almost sure to run right into the
convicts' hands again. But what influenced us most, was his explainin'
that all streams thereabout ran into, or from, the Everglades, an' that
all we had to do was to get here first and keep a sharp lookout along
the cypress for you, and you'd soon show up. The chief had great
confidence in your good sense, Charley, an' seemed to feel certain that
you would reason that the only safe thing to do was to keep right on up
the stream you had taken. 'Course, we never suspected that you had
been shot."

"Well, I guess my successor in command did all I would have done and
perhaps more," remarked Charley with a smile.

"It was just by luck that I happened to do the right thing," said
Walter, modestly.

"You didn't appear like as though luck had helped you much when I found
you, Walt," remarked the captain, dryly. "It sorter looked to me like
only hard work an' an amazin' lot of pluck an' grit had brought you
that far."

"Now don't you go trying to make a hero out of me," said Walter, hotly,
"I won't have it. I only did what anyone would have done, and I made a
whole lot of foolish blunders besides."

"Well, you can have it your own way, lad," agreed the captain, with a
glance of affection at the embarrassed young hunter. "I reckon that's
about all of our story worth tellin'," he concluded. "We made the best
speed we could so as to get here before you. We caught sight of
parties of the convicts searchin' for us now an' then, but the chief
was more than a match for them an' they never caught sight of us.
Since we got here, Chris and I have patrolled the rivers' mouths for
sight of you every day, but we had begun to despair when we came upon
your canoe day before yesterday. And now, that's all, my lads,