ropped each on one elbow,
while Jarvis, sitting with his back against a small tree, was still
singing:

"When in thy dreaming, moons like these shall shine again
And daylight beaming prove thy dreams are vain,
Wilt thou not, relenting, for thy absent lover sigh?
In thy heart consenting to a prayer gone by,
'Nita, Juanita, let me linger by thy side;
'Nita, Juanita, be thou my own fair bride."

The song ceased and the murmur of the river came more clearly. Harry
was drawn deeper and deeper into the old dim past. Lying there in the
gorge, with only the river to be seen, the wilderness came back, and the
whole land was clothed with the mighty forests. He brought himself back
with an effort, when he saw Jarvis looking at him and smiling.

"'Tain't so bad down here on a spring night, is it, Harry?" he said.
"Always purvidin', as I said, that it don't rain."

"Where did you get that song, Sam?" asked Harry--they had already fallen
into the easy habit of calling one another by their first names.

"From a travelin' feller that wandered up into our mount'ins. He could
play it an' sing it most beautiful, an' I took to it right off. It
grips you about the heart some way or other, an' it sounds best when you
are out at night on a river like this. Harry, I know that you're goin'
through our mountins to git to Richmond an' the war. Me an' that
lunkhead Ike, my nephew, hev took a likin' to you. Now, what do you
want to git your head shot off fur? S'pose you stop up in the hills
with us. The huntin's good thar, an' so's the fishin'."

Harry shook his head, but he was very grateful.

"It's good of you to ask me," he said, "but I'm bound to go on."

"Wa'al, if you're boun' to do it I reckon you jest have to, but we're
leavin' the invite open. Ef you change your mind on the trip all you've
got to do is to say so, an' we'll take you in, ain't that so, Ike?"

Ike grinned and nodded. His uncle looked at him admiringly.

"Ike's a lunkhead," he said, "but he's great to travel with. You kin
jest talk an' talk an' he never puts in, but agrees with all you say.
Now, fellers, we'll put out the fire an' roll in our blankets. I guess
we don't need to keep any watch here."

Harry was soon in a dreamless sleep, but his momentary reversion to
the wilderness awoke him after a while. He sat up in his blankets and
looked around. A mere mass of black coals showed where the fire had
been, and two long