but a sizzling " Humph!"



Chapter 63. The Redemption of Van

WHEN things is looking black as black can be, it's a sure sign of
luck coming your way." so said Si Sylvanne, and so it proved to
Van Cortlandt The Moon of the Falling Leaves was waning, October
was nearly over, the day of his return to Albany was near, as he
was to go out in time for the hunters to return in open water. He
was wonderfully improved in strength and looks. His face was
brown and ruddy. He had abandoned all drugs, and had gained fully
twenty pounds in weight. He had learned to make a fire, paddle a
canoe, and go through the woods in semi-silence. His scholarly
talk had given him large place in Rolf's esteem, and his sweet
singing had furnished a tiny little shelf for a modicum of
Quonab's respect. But his attempts to get a deer were failures.
"You come back next year with proper, farsight glasses and you'll
all right," said Rolf; and that seemed the one ray of hope.

The three days' storm had thrown so many trees that the hunters
decided it would be worth while making a fast trip down to
Eagle's Nest, to cut such timber as might have fallen across the
stream, and so make an easy way for when they should have less time.

The surmise was quite right. Much new-fallen timber was now
across the channel. They chopped over twenty-five trunks before
they reached Eagle's Nest at noon, and, leaving the river in
better shape than ever it was, they turned, for the swift,