ve up your lonely life on this island and come down and
make your home with them."

"What! Me go down there and live with them after all that has happened!
I couldn't do anything like that!" and the old lumberman sprang up and
began to pace the cabin floor.

"You could do it if you tried, Uncle Barney. By the way, don't you
remember Ruth?"

"Sure I do--as pretty a little girl as ever I set eyes on. I never had
anything against her. It was her father I had my quarrel with."

"And you liked Ruth's mother, too, didn't you?" went on Jack slowly.

"Oh, yes. Helen Dean always was a nice girl. I knew her long before Fred
Stevenson married her."

"And you liked Ruth's father, too, didn't you, before this quarrel took
place?"

"Of course. We were very chummy up to that time." The old lumberman took
several turns across the cabin floor. "But that's all over now. He
didn't treat me fair--that's all there is to it! He didn't even come to
my wife's funeral!"

"Well, if he didn't, he's very sorry for it now. And you can take it
from me, Uncle Barney, that he would like nothing better than to patch
up the matter somehow or other, and be friends once more."

"Yes, but----"

"And just think how happy it would make his wife and Ruth!" continued
Jack quietly.

"Maybe. But I don't see how it can be done. Anyway, I ain't going to
take the first step," went on Uncle Barney, somewhat lamely.

"You won't have to take the first step!" cried Jack. "You just let them
do that." He came over and caught the old lumberman by the arm. "Will
you?"

For a moment Uncle Barney was silent. He bit his lip and rubbed his chin
with the back of his hand.

"Well, I'll see about it," he said slowly. "I'll think it over."

CHAPTER XXVII

THE BLUE TIN BOX

When Jack Rover returned to the other cabin he was in a happy frame of
mind. He had talked to Barney Stevenson for over an hour, and the old
man had at last agreed to listen to what Ruth's father might have to say
to him. He had admitted that living on the island was rather a lonely
existence for him, especially as he was getting old.

"I do hope they patch up their differences," remarked Jack to his
cousins, after he had told them of the conversation held. "I know it
will take a great load off of Ruth's mind."

"Are you going to send the Stevensons a letter?" questioned Fred.

"I'm going to do better than that, Fred," was the reply. "I'll skate
down to Rockville the first thin