"The trouble is father wants me on the farm. There is so much to do, you
see. While the war was on everything went to pieces."

"But Rodney can help now. He told me only yesterday that he felt strong
enough to do almost anything."

"Yes, I've thought of that. If he can take hold, perhaps I can get father
to consent. Did you say Sam Barringford was going?"

"To be sure. And so is White Buffalo. I suppose father will take not less
than a dozen hunters and trappers with him and six or eight Indians, too.
He says he doesn't want to depend altogether on strangers when he gets out
there, and he hardly knows what has become of the most of those who were
with him before."

"More than half of the crowd are dead, shot down either in the trouble with
the redskins or in the war."

"I've been wondering if there is anything left of the trading-post. Father
has half a notion that the Indians burnt it to the ground, and burnt the
forest around it, too. If they have done that, he won't want to build again
on the burn-over, but at some new spot where the forest hasn't been touched
and timber is easy to get."

"Do you suppose they burnt the post Jean Bevoir had?"

"I reckon not. The Indians were very friendly with that rascal."

The youths had now come to the edge of the woods. Here was a well-defined