ves in it an' he's to be trusted. We'd
have left the boat an' the things with him, an' we'd have walked the
rest of the way, but the creek is so high now that we kin make at least
twenty miles more an' tie up at Bill Rudd's place. Thar's no goin'
further on the water, 'cause the creek takes a fall of fifteen feet thar,
an' this boat is too heavy to be carried around it."

They reached Rudd's place about dark. He was a hospitable mountaineer,
with a double-roomed log cabin, a wife and two small children. He
volunteered gladly to take care of the boat and its belongings, while
Jarvis and the boys went on the next day to Jarvis's home about ten
miles away.

Rudd and his wife were full of questions. They were eager to hear of
the great world which was represented to them by Frankfort, and of the
war in the lowlands concerning which they had heard vaguely. Rudd had
been to Frankfort once and felt himself a traveler and man of the world.
He and his wife knew Jarvis and Ike well, and they glanced rather
curiously at Harry.

"He's goin' across the mountains an' down into Virginia on some business
of his own which I ain't inquired into much," said Jarvis.

Harry slept in a house that night for the first time in days, and he did
not like it. He awoke once with a feeling as if walls were pressing
down upon him, and he could not breathe. He arose, opened the door,
and stood by it for a few minutes, while the fresh air poured in.
Jarvis awoke and chuckled.

"I know what's the matter with you, Harry," he said. "After you've
lived out of doors a long time you feel penned up in houses. If it
wasn't for rain an' snow I'd do without roofs 'cept in winter. Leave
the door wide open, an' we'll both sleep better. Nothin', of course,
would wake that lunkhead, Ike, my nephew. I guess you might fight the
whole of Buena Vista right over his head, an' if it was his sleepin'
time he'd sleep right on."

They left the next morning, taking with them all of Harry's baggage.
Jarvis' boat would remain in the creek at this point, and he and Ike
would return in due time for their own possessions. They followed a
footpath now, but the walk was nothing to them. It was in truth a
relief after so much traveling in the boat.

"My legs are long an' they need straightenin'," said Jarvis. "The ten
miles before us will jest about take out the kinks."

Jarvis was a bachelor, his house being kept by his widowed sister,
Ike's mother, and old