king the truth?" asked the hunter.

"Indeed I am, why should I do otherwise?" I answered, a suspicion
rising in my mind of who he was. "Are you my Uncle Michael?" I asked,
looking in his face. "I am nearly certain that you are, and if so, I am
confident that my father and mother will rejoice if you will return to
them, and Lily too; she must be your daughter."

In spite of my anxiety to get well, the winter snows had melted, and the
trees were once more budding before my long-lost uncle and I were able
to set forward on our journey. By means of Kluko he had taken care to
let my family know of my progress towards recovery, but strange as it
may appear, he had not informed them who he was, being anxious to do so,
I suspect, personally. Kluko had also taken charge of his bales of
skins and peltries; and the wigwam which had so long served as our abode
was left for the benefit of any person who might choose to take
possession of it.

The hunter, for so I will still call him, was unusually nervous as we
approached "Smiling Valley." We were nearly in sight of the farm, when
we saw my father approaching. I threw myself from my horse and after
our first greetings were over, I introduced the hunter, as he had
desired me to do, as the person who had been the means of saving my
life.

"Now go forward, Mike," he said, for so he had taken to call me; "your
friends at home will be longing to see you. I will follow with your
father."

I bounded on, and was soon receiving the joyous welcomings of the loved
ones from whom I had been so long parted, while the Dominie almost wrung
my hand off, as he congratulated me on my return. Uncle Denis had been
absent shooting, but he at that moment came in. I was burning to tell
them who the stranger was, but having been forbidden to do so, I
restrained myself. In a short time, however, my father and his
companion arrived. Uncle Denis gazed at the latter for a few seconds.

"Michael!" he exclaimed, and the two brothers rushed in each other's
arms.

Kathleen and Lily were standing by. Uncle Michael turned from his
brother, and gazed at Lily: he advanced towards her.

"I am not mistaken!" he said; "come to my arms, my child; I thought you
lost with your poor mother, or I should have searched the world over for
you. Do not be alarmed, I will not take you from those who have
cherished you so lovingly."

Lily returned her new-found father's embrace, but it was some time
before