snake. It was bursting spring now, but the buds of laurel
and rhododendron were unbroken. Down Kingdom Come they went. Here was
where he had met the old cow, and here was the little hill where Jack
had fought Whizzer and he had fought Tad Dillon and where he had first
seen Melissa. Again the scarlet of her tattered gown flashed before his
eyes. At the bend of the river they parted from the giant twins.
Faithful Jake's face was foolish when Chad took him by the hand and
spoke to him, as man to man, and Rebel Jerry turned his face quickly
when Dan told him that he would never forget him, and made him promise
to come to see him, if Jerry ever took another raft down to the
capital. Looking back from the hill, Chad saw them slowly moving along
a path toward the woods--not looking at each other and speaking not at
all.

Beyond rose the smoke of the old Turner cabin. On the porch sat the old
Turner mother, her bonnet in her hand, her eyes looking down the river.
Dozing at her feet was Jack--old Jack. She had never forgiven Chad, and
she could not forgive him now, though Chad saw her eyes soften when she
looked at the tattered butternut that Dan wore. But Jack--half-blind
and aged--sprang trembling to his feet when he heard Chad's voice and
whimpered like a child. Chad sank on the porch with one arm about the
old dog's neck. Mother Turner answered all questions shortly.

Melissa had gone to the "Settlemints." Why? The old woman would not
answer. She was coming back, but she was ill. She had never been well
since she went afoot, one cold night, to warn some YANKEE that Daws
Dillon was after him. Chad started. It was Melissa who had perhaps
saved his life. Tad Dillon had stepped into Daws's shoes, and the war
was still going on in the hills. Tom Turner had died in prison. The old
mother was waiting for Dolph and Rube to come back--she was looking for
them every hour, day and night She did not know what had become of the
school-master--but Chad did, and he told her. The school-master had
died, storming breastworks at Gettysburg. The old woman said not a word.

Dan was too weak to ride now. So Chad got Dave Hilton, Melissa's old
sweetheart, to take Dixie to Richmond--a little Kentucky town on the
edge of the Bluegrass--and leave her there and he bought the old Turner
canoe. She would have no use for it, Mother Turner said--he could have
it for nothing; but when Chad thrust a ten dollar Federal bill into her
hands, she broke down