secure, he hoped, a large quantity of furs. Two chests they had were
filled with goods for trade with the Indians, also, and they would
receive skins in return. These would add greatly to the store they
themselves accumulated, and they should realize a considerable sum when
they came to market them. Ree hoped so. It was no part of his plan to go
into the forest fastnesses merely to hunt and trap and lead a rough life.
No, indeed! He wished to make a home, to grow up with the country and "be
somebody."

Lower and lower the sun sank behind the darkness of the trees which
seemed to rise skyward in the western horizon, and as the early October
twilight approached, Ree began to watch for John's coming. He had
listened from time to time but had heard no gun discharged, and he
laughed to himself as he thought what John's chagrin would be if he were
obliged to come into camp empty-handed. And when Old Sol, slipped out of
sight and his chum had not appeared, he inwardly commented: "You went
farther into the woods than was good for you, my boy! I suspect I have
already left you a good ways behind."

So he drove to a little knoll beneath an old oak, and unhitched. He
kindled a fire, then busied himself straightening up some of the boxes
and bundles which had slipped from position during the day, often
stopping to look back along the trail in hope of seeing John; and when
the darkness had become so dense he could see but a few rods from the
camp-fire and still his chum was missing, alarm invaded Ree's thoughts.
He could not imagine what detained the boy. But he toasted some bread and
broiled some bacon for his supper.

A sense of loneliness over his solitary meal added to Ree's anxiety,
because of John's non-appearance, and presently he walked back along the
road a considerable distance, whistling the call they had adopted years
before. The darkness gave every object an unnatural, lifelike look;
bushes and tree trunks assumed fantastic shapes. No human habitation was
within miles of the spot, and as the echoes of the whistling died away
and no answer came, Ree was almost frightened. Not for himself but on
John's account was he conscious of a gloomy foreboding in all his
thoughts. What should he do if the boy had fallen a victim of some bear,
perhaps, or lawless men.

Slowly he retraced his steps to the campfire's light. Weighing the whole
question carefully, however, as to whether he had not better go in search
of his friend, h