moved that told
they had news, and when they reached Cedar House, the whole household
was breathlessly waiting for them. The white family was gathered inside
the front door, and the black people, running up from the quarters,
crowded round the door on the outside, with ashen faces, for their fear
of the savages was, if possible, greater than the white people's. All
pressed around Toby, and Father Orin told the good news as quickly as he
could, without taking time to dismount; but his voice trembled so that
he could hardly speak, and his eyes were so full of tears that he could
not see. He was not yet able to rejoice over a victory which had cost
the life of a dear friend.

"And Joe Daviess?" asked Philip Alston.

Father Orin silently turned his face toward the river and made the sign
of the cross; but he turned back and patted Ruth's head when she pressed
it against Toby's mane and burst into sobbing.

"It was he who saved the day," the priest said huskily. "He led the
desperate charge that won the battle, when everything seemed lost. He
received his death wound in the charge, but he lived long enough to know
that the victory was ours."

"He was a great man; his name will never be forgotten. His sword has now
carved it imperishably on the key-stone of the new state's triumphal
arch," said Philip Alston.

"And Tommy Dye?" asked Ruth, lifting her wet eyes. "The Sisters are so
anxious."

"And poor Tommy Dye, also," answered Father Orin.

These two brave men who lived their lives so far apart, had fallen
almost side by side. Joe Daviess, the noble, the fearless, the highly
gifted, the honored, the famous; and Tommy Dye, the kindly, the
reckless, the poorly endowed, the misguided, the obscure,--both had done
all that the noblest could do. The mould and the dead leaves of the
wilderness would cover both their graves. Only the initials of his name
roughly cut on a tree would mark the glorious resting-place of the one.
Only an humble heap of unmarked earth would tell where a noble death had
closed the ignoble life of the other.

XXIII

LOVE CLAIMS HIS OWN

The tears had been heavy on Ruth's dark lashes when she had fallen
asleep, but she awoke with a smile, radiant and expectant. She could not
remember at first what made her so happy, and a pang touched her heart
at the sudden recollection of the night's sadness. And then suddenly she
began to glow again at the thought of her lover's coming. The week of
hi