“He came in the boat, and saved us just in the nick of time,” Mrs. Hampton explained.  “But for him we would not be here now.”

“But what is wrong with him?”

“He is so terribly burned that he is unconscious.  He leaped right through the fire at the landing, pushed off the boat, and came to our rescue.  We were so excited that we did not know he was so badly burned until a short time ago.  He never said a word to us about it.  But we must get him home at once.  How can we do it?”

John dropped upon his knees by Eben’s side and examined his burns.  He could tell at once how serious they were, and that something must be done immediately.  And as he knelt there, the boy moaned and his body trembled.  Then his eyes opened, his lips moved, and he muttered words which the anxious watchers could not understand.

“We must get him home before he recovers consciousness,” John declared, springing to his feet.  “He does not realise his sufferings in his present condition.  But should he come to out here it will be fearful, for we can do nothing to relieve his pain.”

He turned and looked toward the remains of the boat, and then off into the forest.

“You stay here out of the rain,” he told the women.  “I want to see what can be done.  I must build a raft of some kind to take us across to the landing, as it is impossible to carry Eben around the lake.”

“Oh, let me help you,” Jess pleaded.  “Make some use of me.”

“But you will get soaked, and your clothes and hands dirty,” John replied.

“That won’t matter.  I don’t mind the rain, and I can wash my hands and clothes.”

“Very well, then,” John assented, much pleased at the true spirit of the one he loved, and also anxious to have her with him.

In a few minutes they were down by the lake examining the boat, to find out how much it had been damaged.

“It is not so badly burned as I thought,” John remarked.  “The bottom is all right, and the sides are only partly injured.  If we can get several good-sized poles to place underneath, it should carry us all right.  I guess we can find them over there,” and he motioned to his left.  “If I only had an axe it wouldn’t take me long to make a raft that would hold a horse.”

Together they made their way into the forest a short distance from the mine.  The fire had left desolation on all sides in its onward sweep.  Everything was black, and the tall trees stood gaunt and bare.  The underbrush had been burnt, so without much difficulty John was enabled to find a number of sticks lying upon the ground, which he knew would serve his purpose.  It did not take the two long to carry them back to the landing, and in a remarkably short time they were placed under the boat and securely fastened with willow withes, which served instead of a rope.  When the work was finished, John stepped on the raft, pushed it from the shore, and tested it thoroughly.