After dispatching the meal provided by his hospitable entertainer, Herbert sat down on the grass just outside the cabin, and watched lazily the smoke which issued from Ralph’s pipe, as it rose in many a fantastic curl.

“How long have you lived here, Ralph?” asked our hero at length.

“Ten years,” said the recluse, removing his pipe from his lips.

“It is a long time.”

“Yes, boy, a long time in the life of one as young as you, but to me it seems but yesterday that I built this cabin and established myself here.”

“Are you not often lonely?”

“Lonely?  Yes, but not more so than I should be in the haunts of men.  I have company, too.  There are the squirrels that leap from bough to bough of the tall trees.  Then there are the birds that wake me with their singing.  They are company for me.  They are better company than men.  They, at least, will not deceive me.”

He paused, and bent his eyes upon the ground.  He was thinking, not of the boy beside him, but of some time in the past, and the recollection apparently was not pleasant.

The afternoon wore away at length, and the shadows deepened in the woods.  Herbert wandered about, and succeeded in gathering some nuts, which he carried to Ralph’s cabin.  When eight o’clock came, the Ranger said:  “You had better lie down and rest, my boy; I will wake you up at twelve, and we will go together to Holden’s place, and see if we can get your clothes.”

To this proposal Herbert willingly assented, as he began to feel tired.

He slept, he knew not how long, when he was gently shaken by Ralph.

“Where am I?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

The sight of the Ranger bending over him soon brought back the recollection of his position, and he sprang up promptly.  Ralph showed him an easier way out of the woods than that by which he had entered, and less embarrassed by the growth of underbrush.

In half an hour they were standing by Abner Holden’s house.  It was perfectly dark, the inmates probably being fast asleep.

“I know where the housekeeper sleeps,” said Herbert.  “I’ll throw up a pebble at her window, and perhaps it will wake her up.”

He did as proposed.  Mrs. Bickford, who was a light sleeper, heard, and went to the window.

“Who’s there?” she asked.

“It is I, Mrs. Bickford,” said Herbert.

“What, Herbert?  Shall I let you in?”

“No; I don’t want to come in.  All I want is my clothes.  They are up in my trunk.”

“I’ll go up and get them for you.”

She went upstairs and quickly returned with the clothes, which she let down from the window.

“Are you hungry, Herbert?” she asked.  “Let me bring you something to eat.”

“No, thank you, Mrs. Bickford; I am stopping with Ralph the Ranger.  He has kindly given me all the food I want.”

“What are you going to do?  Are you going to stop with him?”