of having neighbors before long and the natural reluctance to give up
a place upon which he had expended so much toil, he decided to hold
on; hoping that more quiet times would prevail, until other settlers
would take up land around him.

The house had been rebuilt more strongly than before. He now employed
four men, and had been unmolested since his return to his farm, three
years before the date of this story. Already two or three locations
had been taken up on the shores of the lake beyond him, a village had
grown up thirty-five miles away, and several settlers had established
themselves between that place and his home.

"So you are going out fishing this morning, Harold?" Mr. Welch said.
"I hope you will bring back a good supply, for the larder is low. I
was looking at you yesterday, and I see that you are becoming a
first-rate hand at the management of a canoe."

"So I ought to be," the boy said, "considering that for nearly three
months I have done nothing but shoot and fish."

"You have a sharp eye, Harold, and will make a good backwoodsman one
of these days. You can shoot nearly as well as I can now. It is lucky
that I had a good stock of powder and lead on hand; firing away by
the hour together, as you do, consumes a large amount of ammunition.
See, there is a canoe on the lake; it is coming this way, too. There
is but one man in it; he is a white, by his clothes."

For a minute or two they stood watching the boat, and then, seeing
that its course was directed toward the shore, they walked down to
the edge of the lake to meet it.