elves to hasty pudding
and milk and took a dishful to Nimrod, who was now awake and looking
much more lively, and then their mother set them their tasks for the
day.

"Nancy," said she, "I gave all thy pies to the men who have gone with
father to hunt for Zeb. To-morrow will be Thanksgiving Day and we
shall need more. The mince pies are already prepared and put away on
the shelves, and thou canst make apple and pumpkin both to set away
beside them in the secret closet."

"That makes me think," said Daniel, and, touching the secret
spring, he opened the door and rescued the jack-o'-lantern from the
window-sill.

It was only a wilted and blackened old pumpkin that he brought to his
mother, but she smiled at it and patted the hideous head. "He hath
been a good friend to us, Dan," she said, "e'en as say the Scriptures,
'God hath chosen the weak things of the earth to confound the mighty.'
David went out against Goliath with a sling and a stone, and thou hast
overcome savages with naught but a foolish pumpkin."

[Illustration]

Nancy took the grinning head and set it on the chimney-piece. "Dear
old Jacky," she said, "thou shalt come to our Thanksgiving feast. 'T
is no more than thy due since thou hast saved us from the savages."

"Nay, daughter," said her mother. "That savoreth of idolatry. Give
thy praise unto God, who useth even things which are not to bring to
naught the things that are. 'T is but a pumpkin after all, and will
make an excellent feast for the pig on the morrow. Daniel, go to the
field and bring thy sister a fresh one for the pies and then hasten
to thine own tasks. They wait for thee. While thy father is away
searching for Zeb, thou must do his work as well as thine own."

"Dost think, Mother, that he will surely bring Zeb back in time for
the feast?" asked Nancy anxiously.

"Let us pray, nothing doubting," answered the mother. "If it be God's
will, they will return."

There was a tremor in her voice even as she spoke her brave words, for
she knew well the perils of their search. All day long they worked,
praying as they prepared the feast that they might share it a united
family. Nancy made the pies, and Dan dressed a fowl, while their
mother got ready a pot of beans, made brown-bread to bake in the oven
with the pies, and steamed an Indian pudding. All day they watched the
forest for sign of the returning men. All day they listened for the
sound of guns, but neither sight nor sound rewarded t