Part 8 (2/2)

Julie, equally excited, scurried up after her brother and reached the top almost as soon as he did. Then they turned and shouted joyfully to the two below them: ”Jane! Dan! Look at us! We're top of the world.”

”Oh, boy!” Gerald capered about, unable to stand still. ”I'm glad I came.

I bet you, Julie, we'll have a million adventures, maybe more.” But Dan was calling and so they scampered back down the rocky flight of stairs.

The older lad laughed at their enthusiasm. ”I know just how you feel,” he told them. ”If I weren't afraid of shocking your sedate sister here, I believe I would--well--I don't know just what I would do.”

”Stand on your head,” Gerald prompted. ”Do it, Dan. I'll dare you.”

But the older boy was needed just then to tell the surly driver where the trunks were to be put. ”Let me help you, Mr. Wallace.” Dan made an attempt to take one end of a trunk, but the husky man, with the unchangeable countenance, merely grunted his dissent, and swinging a trunk up on his broad shoulders, he began the ascent of the steep stone stairs quite as though it were not a herculean task.

Dan followed. ”Just leave them on the porch until we get our bearings,”

he directed. ”We can move them in after we have unpacked.” Then, from the loose change that he had in his pocket, he paid the man. A few moments later the stage rumbled on its way up the road, which circled the mountain and then descended to a hamlet in the valley on the other side.

As soon as the four young Abbotts were alone, Dan, slipping an arm about Jane, exclaimed: ”Think of it, sister! Isn't it almost beyond comprehension that we have such magnificence right in our front door-yard.” He took a long breath. The pine trees, though not large, were spicily fragrant. Then, whirling toward her, he caught both of her hands, and there were actually tears in his eyes as he said, ”Jane, I'm going to live! I know that I am!”

Selfish as the girl was, she could not but respond to her brother's enthusiasm. The younger children had raced away on a tour of discovery.

Their excited voices were heard exclaiming about something they had discovered beyond the cabin. Clear and high Gerry's voice rang out: ”Dan, Jane, come quick! We've found Roaring Creek, and it isn't making a terrible lot of noise at all.”

But the older boy had noted the extreme weariness on his sister's face.

He well knew that she had sacrificed herself to come to a country which did not appeal to her; where she had to meet people whom she considered far beneath her, and she had done it all to help him get well. Instantly the boy decided that he would make Jane's comfort his first care, that her stay with him might be as pleasant as possible, and so he called back: ”After a time, Gerald. Come on; I'm going to unlock the door. Don't you want to see what's on the inside of our cabin?”

”Oh, boy, don't I, though!” Gerry, closely followed by Julie, raced back to the wide front porch, which was made of logs. Dan took from his satchel a very large key and holding it up, he called merrily, ”The key to health and happiness.”

”You left out something,” Gerry prompted. ”It's health, wealth and happiness. Maybe we'll find that lost mine, who knows?”

Dan merely laughed at that. ”Now,” he said, as he put the key in the lock, ”what do you suppose we'll find on the other side of this door?”

What they saw delighted the hearts of three of the young people. A large log cabin room with a long window on either side of the door. At the back was a crude fireplace made of rocks. There was no window on that side of the room, as a wall of the mountain came so close to the cabin that there would have been no view.

The rafters were logs with the bark still on, and the furniture had been made of saplings. There were leather cus.h.i.+ons in the chairs, but the thing that made Gerald caper about, mad with joy, was a bearskin on one of the walls.

”Oh, look-it, will you, Dan? What kind of a bear is it? Do you think it is a grizzly, and do you s'pose it's that one Dad said came right down here to our ledge? Do you, Dan?”

The older boy looked at the rather small bearskin and shook his head.

”No, it isn't a grizzly,” he said. ”I think it is the skin of a black bear. But here is another on the floor in front of the fireplace. That's Dad's bear, I remember now. This old fellow was the grizzly who was unfortunate enough to come down here to try to help himself to Dad's supplies.”

Jane had dropped wearily into a big chair that really was comfortable with its leather-covered cus.h.i.+ons, and Dan, noting how tired she was, exclaimed:

”Jane, I'll unlock the packing trunk and get out some of the bedding, and if you wish, you may lie down for a while. Dad said there were two good beds here and several cots.”

Gerald and Julie had darted through a door at one side and, reappearing, they beckoned to their big brother.

”We've found one of 'em,” the younger lad announced. ”It's in a dandee room! I bet you Jane will choose it for hers.”

<script>