It took a great deal of talking to get him to consent to return to civilization, but finally Giant accomplished his purpose.  Then the young hunters told about the dead bear, and the hermit showed them how to get the carcass down to the lake front without much trouble.  Once at the camp, Pierre Dunrot was given some clean garments, and before donning them he took a bath in the lake.  When he had put on the clean clothing he looked like a different individual.

Of course Giant was anxious to get home at once, and his chums could not blame him.  The others wanted to take the bear to town, and so it was decided that the return home should begin the next morning.

The journey to Fairview took three days, the boys pushing along as rapidly as circumstances would permit.  The companionship of the lads appeared to brighten Pierre Dunrot’s mind wonderfully, and it was only now and then that he relapsed into his former simpleness.

Fairview reached, Giant lost no time in hurrying his uncle to his home.  Mrs. Caslette was sitting by a window sewing when the pair appeared.

“Why, Will!” she called out and arose.  Then she looked at the man.  “Can it be possible?  Pierre!” And she stood still, staring at her relative.

“Yes, it is really Uncle Pierre!” cried Giant.

The next moment the man and the woman were kissing each other.  Mrs. Caslette was bewildered and it took some time for Giant to tell his story.  Then Pierre Dunrot had his say.  He was greatly excited over coming back, and that night had to be placed in a physician’s care.  Dr. Reed attended him, and came to see the former hermit for a week.  Pierre Dunrot had quite a severe spell of sickness, mostly due to his weak brain, but when he got over it he was clearer-minded than he had been for years.

“The past is like some awful dream,” he said.

“I do not understand how I came to run away.”

Later on he spoke of the fortune that was coming to Mrs. Caslette and himself.  He remembered all the details, and through the efforts of a lawyer the hundred thousand francs at last came into possession of the rightful owners.

The bringing in of the big bear by the boy hunters caused something of a sensation in Fairview.  The bear was put on exhibition for a day at one of the stores, and then cut up and the meat distributed.  The skin was properly cured, and to-day forms a rug in the Reed parlor.  How the doctor came to gain possession of it will be told in another story.  Of course Ham Spink and his cronies were very envious of the young hunters’ luck, and they tried to circulate a story that Snap and his friends had bought the dead bear from some old hunter, but nobody would listen to the yarn.

“We know they can hunt,” said one man.  “They are the best shots in this town,” and his opinion was the opinion of the majority.

“Shall we go back to the lake and the woods?” asked Snap, one day.  “Remember, the vacation is not yet half over.”