nd as soon as their appetites were satisfied he rose and
said:

"I'll show you your own room now, Adrian. Occupy it as long as you
wish. And find something to amuse yourself with while I am gone; for I
have much to do out of doors. It was the worst storm, for its
duration, that ever struck us. Fortunately, most of the outbuildings
need only repairs, but Snowfoot's home is such a wreck she must have a
new one. Margot, will you run up the signal for Pierre?"

"Yes, indeed! Though I believe he will come without it. He'll be
curious about the tornado, too, and it's near his regular visiting
time."

The room assigned to Adrian excited his fresh surprise; though he
assured himself that he would be amazed at nothing further, when he
saw lying upon a table in the middle of the floor, two complete suits
of clothing, apparently placed there by the thoughtful host for his
guest to use. They were not of the latest style, but perfectly new and
bore the stamp of a well-known tailor of his own city.

"Where did he get them, and so soon? What a mammoth of a house it is,
though built of logs. And isn't it the most fitting and beautiful of
houses, after all? Whence came those comfortable chairs? and the
books? Most of all, where and how did he get that wonderful picture
over that magnificent log mantel? It looks like a room made ready for
the unexpected coming of some prodigal son! I'm that, sure enough; but
not of this household. If I were--well, maybe---- Oh! hum!"

The lad crossed the floor and gazed reverently at the solitary
painting which the room contained. A marvelously lifelike head of the
Man of Sorrows, bending forward and gazing upon the onlooker with eyes
of infinite tenderness and appealing. Beneath it ran the inscription:
"Come Unto Me"; and in one corner was the artist's signature--a broken
pine branch.

"Whew! I wonder if that fellow ran away from home because he loved a
brush and paint tube! What sort of a spot have I strayed into, anyway?
A paradise? Hmm. I wish the mater could see me now. She'd not be so
unhappy over her unworthy son, maybe. Bless her, anyhow. If everybody
had been like her----"

He finished his soliloquy before an open window, through which he
could see the summit of the bare mountain that crowned the centre of
the island, and was itself crowned by a single pine-tree. Though many
of its branches had been lopped away, enough were left to form a sort
of spiral stairway up its straight trunk an