was making
progress; and the boy felt very proud of his young Indian. But there was
more startling news than that awaiting him. In one of the letters from
his adopted father, which, though it bore the latest date, had already
been waiting in San Francisco more than a month, he read, with
amazement, the following paragraphs:

"I have just received a note from a lady who writes that she met a
gentleman in New Mexico who told her all about you. She was intensely
interested, because she thinks she knew your mother, and travelled with
her and you on the day the train was wrecked in Glen Eddy creek, when
you and I were the only survivors. She also says that the mother with
whom she travelled said her baby was just a year old, and that day was
his birthday. So, my dear boy, if it should happen that you and the baby
she mentions are the same, you are a year younger than we have always
thought you, and are just the age of Binney Gibbs. In conclusion, the
lady writes that she believes your real father to be still alive, and
she thinks she knows his name, but prefers not to mention it until she
hears from me all that I know of your history. I, of course, wrote to
her at once, and am anxiously expecting an answer. I never loved you
more than now, and to give you up will well-nigh break my heart; but, if
there is anything better in store for you than I can offer, I would be
the last one to stand in the way of your accepting it.

"Now, my dear boy, come home as soon as you can, and perhaps you will
find two fathers awaiting you instead of one. We are full of anxiety
concerning you. Be sure and telegraph the moment you arrive in San
Francisco."

Over and over did Glen read this letter before he could control himself
sufficiently to speak. Binney Gibbs noticed his agitation, and finally
said,

"No bad news, I hope, old man?"

For answer the boy handed him the letter, which Binney read with
ever-growing excitement. When he finished he exclaimed, "It's wonderful,
Glen, and I do hope it will come out all right. I always felt sorry for
you at not knowing who you were, even when I was so meanly jealous of
you for being stronger and more popular than I, and now I congratulate
you from the bottom of my heart. What a lucky thing it has been though,
over and over again, not only for you, but for me, and the whole second
division, that you were stronger than I!" he added, with a hearty
sincerity that he would not have exhibited a year befo