night, as they sat by their camp fire, Skookum arose, stretched,
yawned, walked around deliberately, put his nose in the lawyer's
hand. gave it a lick, then lay down by his feet. Van Cortlandt
glanced at Rolf, a merry twinkle was in the eyes of both. "It's
all right. You can pat Skookum now, without risk of being
crippled. He's sized you up. You are one of us at last;" and
Quonab looked on with two long ivory rows a-gleaming in his
smile.



Chapter 64. Dinner at the Governor's

Was ever there a brighter blazing sunrise after such a night of
gloom? Not only a deer, but the biggest of all deer, and Van
himself the only one of the party that had ever killed a moose.
The skin was removed and afterward made into a hunting coat for
the victor. The head and horns were carefully preserved to be
carried back to Albany, where they were mounted and still hang in
the hall of a later generation of the name. The final days at the
camp were days of happy feeling; they passed too soon, and the
long-legged lawyer, bronzed and healthy looking, took his place
in their canoe for the flying trip to Albany. With an empty canoe
and three paddles (two and one half, Van said), they flew down
the open stretch of Jesup's River in something over two hours and
camped that night fully thirty-five miles from their cabin. The
next day they nearly reached the Schroon and in a week they
rounded the great bend, and Albany hove in view.

How Van's heart did beat! How he did exult to come in triumph