Harry soon discovered that no wood had been cut for several days,
because the creek was up.

"What had that to do with it?" asked Harry.

"Why, you see, Mah'sr Harry," said John Walker, "de creek was mighty
high, and dere was no knowin' how things ud turn out. So we thought we'd
jist wait and see."

"So you've been here all the time?"

"Yes, sir; been h'yar all de time. Couldn't go home, you know."

Harry was very sorry to hear of this lost time, for he knew that his
wood-cutting would come to an end as soon as the season was sufficiently
advanced to give the men an opportunity of hiring themselves for
farm-work; but it was of no use to talk any more about it; and so, after
depositing Kate at the post-office, where the post-mistress, who knew
her well, gave her a nice little "snack" of buttermilk, cold fried
chicken, and "light-bread," he went to the station and transacted his
business. He had not been there for some weeks, and he found quite a
satisfactory sum of money due him, in spite of the holiday his men had
taken. He then arranged with Dick and John to work on for a week or two
longer--if "nothing happened;" and after attending to some commissions
for the family, he and Kate set out for home.

But nothing they had done that day was of so much importance as their
meeting with Miles tuned out to be.