Jason turned his head quickly and started for the gate.

"Now, don't, Jason," called the old woman in a broken voice.
"Don't take on that way. I want ye both to come an' live with us,"
she pleaded. "Come on back now."

The little fellow neither made answer nor looked back, and the old
people watched him turn up the creek, trudging toward Mavis's
home.

The boy's tears once more started when he caught sight of Steve
Hawn's cabin, but he forced them back. A helpless little figure
was sitting in the open doorway with head buried in her arms. She
did not hear him coming even when he was quite near, for the lad
stepped softly and gently put one hand on her shoulder. She looked
up with a frightened start, and at sight of his face she quit her
sobbing and with one hand over her quivering mouth turned her head
away.

"Come on, Mavie," he said quietly.

Again she looked up, wonderingly this time, and seeing some steady
purpose in his eyes rose without a question.

With no word he turned and she followed him back down the creek.
And the old couple, sitting in the porch, saw them coming, the boy
striding resolutely ahead, the little girl behind, and the faces
of both deadly serious--the one with purpose and the other with
blind trust. They did not call to the boy, for they saw him swerve
across the road toward the gate. He did not lift his head until he