cry, the long, whining hoot of the owl,
perfectly imitated, a sound that carries very far in the quiet night.
After waiting a moment or two he repeated it, the second cry being
exactly the same in tone and length as the first.

"Now you listen," said Shif'less Sol.

There was another half minute of the absolute silence, and then, from a
point far down under the southeastern horizon came an answering cry. It
was remote and low, but they heard it distinctly, and they waited
eagerly to see if it would be repeated. It came a second time, and then
a third. Henry answered twice, and then the other came thrice. Call and
answer were complete, and no doubt remained.

"I judge that it's Saplin' who answered," ruminated Shif'less Sol. "He
always did hev a hoot that's ez long ez he is, an' them wuz shorely
long."

"I think, too, that it was Long Jim," said Henry, "and he'll come
straight for us. In five minutes I'll send out the cry again, and maybe
another will answer."

When Henry gave the second call the answer came from a point almost due
east.

"That's Tom," said the shiftless one decisively. "Couldn't mistake it.
Didn't that owl hoot sharp and short fur an owl? Jest like Tom Ross.
Don't waste any words that he kin help, an' makes them that he has to
use ez short ez he kin."

Another five minutes, and Henry gave the third call. The answer came
from the southwest, and the shiftless one announced instantly that it
was Paul.

"O' course we know it's Paul," he said, "'cause we know that his owl is
the poorest owl among the whole lot o' us, an' I've spent a lot o' time,
too, trainin' his hoot. No Injun would ever take Paul's owl to be a real
one."

Henry laughed.

"Paul isn't as good in the woods as we are," he said, "but he knows a
lot of other things that we don't."

"O' course," said Shif'less Sol, who was very fond of Paul. "It's
shorely a treat to set by the camp fire an' hear him tell about
A-Killus, an' Homer, an' Virgil, an' Charley-mane, and all the other
fierce old Roman warriors that had sech funny names."

"They'll be here in less than half an hour," said Henry. "So we'd better
leave the thicket, and sit out there under the big trees where they can
see us."

They took comfortable seats on a fallen log under some giant maples, and
presently three figures, emerging from various points, became palpable
in the dusk. "Tom," murmured Henry under his breath, "and Jim--and
Paul."

The three uttered low cri