milking, Mary came and told me that he was then across
the river at the ox-bow, looking over at the house. If it should be
Simon Halpen! He will not give up his hope of getting our rich pastures,
I am afraid. We must watch carefully, Enoch."

"I'll shoot him if he comes again!" declared the boy, belligerently.
Then he closed and barred the door and rapidly prepared for bed. His
mother retired to her own room, but long after Enoch was soundly
sleeping on his couch, the good woman was upon her knees beside her bed.
Although she was proud to see Enoch so sturdy and helpful, she feared
this controversy with the Yorkers would do him much harm; and it was for
him, as well as for the safety of them all in troublous times, that she
prayed to the God in whom she so implicitly trusted.

The next day 'Siah Bolderwood came striding up to the cabin with the
carcass of the doe Enoch had shot across his shoulders, and found the
widow at her loom, just within the door. She welcomed the lanky ranger
warmly, for he had not only been her husband's closest friend but had
been of great assistance to her children and herself since Jonas' death.
"The children will be glad to see you, 'Siah," she said. "I will call
them up early and get supper for us all. I will have raised biscuit,
too--it is not often you get anything but Johnny-cake, I warrant. The
boys are working to clear the new lot to-day."

"Aye, I saw them as I came along," said Bolderwood, laughing. "There was
Mistress Kate on top of a tall stump, her black hair flying in the wind,
and Nuck's old musket in her hands. She said she was on guard, and she
hailed me before I got out of the wood. Her eyes are sharp."

"She should have been a boy," sighed the widow. "Indeed, this wilderness
is no place for girls at all."

"Bless their dear little souls!" exclaimed Bolderwood, with feeling.
"What'd we do without Kate an' Mary? They keep the boys sweet, mistress!
And Kate's as good as a boy any day when it comes to looking out for
herself; while as I came through the stumpage Mary was working with the
best of 'em to pull roots and fire-weed."

"The boys want a stump-burning as soon as possible. Jonas got the new
lot near cleared. There's only the rubbish to burn."

"Good idea. Nuck and Bryce are doing well.... But what was the sentinel
for?"

"It isn't all play," said the widow, stopping her work and speaking
seriously. "Yesterday the children saw a strange man hanging about the
cree