the first warm greetings
were over.

"I sure was. I thought you couldn't get lost and wondered what had
happened to you. Tom was uneasy, too, and I reckon he is out looking
for you now. He went away in a good deal of a hurry. I made a
lighthouse out of those palmetto fans that you cut for my bed, just
on the chance of your having lost your way."

Tom came home about daylight and lay down beside Dick, where he
grumbled and growled as if he were a man with a next-morning
headache.

When daylight came and Ned began to bestir himself, he missed the
cheery "Good-morning" of his companion, who was not able to lift his
head from his pillow of palmetto. His wan smile went to Ned's heart,
and the boy had to busy himself with the fire to hide his emotion.
Every hour of that day he watched over the invalid, and from time
to time tempted him with bits of broiled bird, heron soup and sips
of hot tea made from leaves of the sweet bay. Ned's acquaintance
with sickness was slight and his apprehension great, so that the
night was a sleepless one and the day that followed brought no
relief to his mind. Another day brought new anxieties. Dick was no
better, and Ned couldn't bear to leave him, for the invalid's thirst
was continuous, but now the supply of fresh water was running low,
and a trip back to the river was imperative. He put the bucket, with
what water was left, beside Dick's bed and said:

"Dick, boy, I've got to go for some water. I'll have to be away a
few hours, but I'll get back the first minute it is possible."

Dick put out his hand, and his smile was cheery, though his voice
was weak as he said:

"Don't you worry, Neddy. I'm all right for all day. I don't need
anything but amusement, and Tom will 'tend to that."

"I'm afraid to leave a big wildcat with you when you are so weak. I
am going to take Tom with me."

"Don't do it, Neddy. He'd only be in your way, and I do want him for
company. You don't understand Tom; he likes me and I like him.
Please don't take him away."

"Of course I won't take him away, Dick, boy, but you will have to be
very good and keep cheerful and get strong and well to pay me for
leaving him."

Ned's apprehensions made the day a hard one for him. He was afraid
of capsizing the canoe and being unable to get back in it. He
imagined a tarpon jumping into it, a shark swimming against it, or a
porpoise smashing it. When he reached the river of fresh water he
carried the canoe up on the ban