a dense, yellow, whirling column of smoke. It began to have a
heart of gold.

Dale took a long pole and raked out a pile of red embers upon which the
coffee-pot and oven soon began to steam.

"Roy, I promised the girls turkey to-night," said the hunter.

"Mebbe to-morrow, if the wind shifts. This 's turkey country."

"Roy, a potato will do me!" exclaimed Bo. "Never again will I ask for
cake and pie! I never appreciated good things to eat. And I've been a
little pig, always. I never--never knew what it was to be hungry--until
now."

Dale glanced up quickly.

"Lass, it's worth learnin'," he said.

Helen's thought was too deep for words. In such brief space had she been
transformed from misery to comfort!

The rain kept on falling, though it appeared to grow softer as night
settled down black. The wind died away and the forest was still, except
for the steady roar of the stream. A folded tarpaulin was laid between
the pine and the fire, well in the light and warmth, and upon it the
men set steaming pots and plates and cups, the fragrance from which was
strong and inviting.

"Fetch the saddle-blanket an' set with your backs to the fire," said
Roy.

Later, when the girls were tucked away snugly in their blankets and
sheltered from the rain, Helen remained awake after Bo had fallen
asleep. The big blaze made the improvised tent as bright as day. She
could see the smoke, the trunk of the big pine towering aloft, and
a blank space of sky. The stream hummed a song, seemingly musical at
times, and then discordant and dull, now low, now roaring, and always
rushing, gurgling, babbling, flowing, chafing in its hurry.

Presently the hunter and his friend returned from hobbling the horses,
and beside the fire they conversed in low tones.

"Wal, thet trail we made to-day will be hid, I reckon," said Roy, with
satisfaction.

"What wasn't sheeped over would be washed out. We've had luck. An' now I
ain't worryin'," returned Dale.

"Worryin'? Then it's the first I ever knowed you to do."

"Man, I never had a job like this," protested the hunter.

"Wal, thet's so."

"Now, Roy, when old Al Auchincloss finds out about this deal, as he's
bound to when you or the boys get back to Pine, he's goin' to roar."

"Do you reckon folks will side with him against Beasley?"

"Some of them. But Al, like as not, will tell folks to go where it's
hot. He'll bunch his men an' strike for the mountains to find his
nieces."

"Wal, a