. "Next time
I'll use the club on ye!"

Each blow jolted Hippy's head.

"Mrs. Shafto! Please, please! We can't have any such actions in this
outfit," rebuked Grace. "Lieutenant Wingate did not mean to offend you,
and you must learn to be a good fellow and take as well as give if you
are going to stay with this outfit. If you think you cannot, now is the
time to say so."

"Do ye want me to git out?" demanded Joe, glaring at Grace.

"Indeed we do not. We wish you to remain, to be a good fellow, to share
in our pleasures and take the unpleasant features in the spirit of the
Overland Riders. Do you think you can do this?" Grace smiled as she said
it.

"I reckon yer right, Miss Gray," decided the forest woman after a
moment's pondering and glaring through her spectacles at Grace.

"Thank you. Nora, suppose you lead Hippy to one side--by the ear--and
read him a little lecture," suggested Grace.

"I'll do that," agreed Nora Wingate. "Hippy, my darlin', you come with
me. I'll fetch a stout stick and I'll make you think of home and
mother."

Even Joe Shafto laughed as Nora playfully led Hippy away by an ear. They
found them half an hour later sitting by the fire where Nora was still
lecturing her irrepressible spouse.

"I've reformed, Mrs. Shafto," called Hippy as he saw them approaching.
"I was mistaken in thinking you were my dear. You aren't. Henry is your
dear."

"I don't know whether he is or not. I'm afraid Henry loped away when the
logs came down. I'll track him when it gets light enough to see."

All was peace in the Overland camp again, and, while they were waiting
for daylight, Tom and Hippy hammered their mess kits back into shape
with an axe, greatly to the amusement of their companions. As the
graying skies finally brought out in relief the tops of the trees,
Elfreda, who had been gazing up at them, uttered a sudden exclamation.

"What is that up there?" she exclaimed. "It looks like an animal."

"It's my Henry!" shouted the guide. "Come down here, ye beast! Come
down, I say. Henry, do ye hear me?"

Henry plainly did, but he took his time about obeying, and it was not
until the light became stronger that he made a move to descend. After
reaching the last of the lower limbs of the tree, Henry slid the rest of
the way down, dislodging the bark with his claws, a little shower of
bark sifting over Joe, who was waiting at the base of the tree to
welcome her pet. This she did in characteristic fashion wh