“Yes,” answered Phil, laughing. “The moment I got a good sight of them, I remembered that besides Chap Webster, there wasn’t another fellow of fifteen with a thirty-year old pair of legs.” “I saw ’twas a boy, too,” said Adam, “and he skipped down in a way that seemed to me mighty nat’ral to somebody.” “They are a good pair of legs,” said Chap, looking down at his long extremities, “and they often come in handy.” “Now then,” cried Adam, “we’ll build a fire and have our supper as soon as we can, and we’ll do the rest of our talkin’ while we are eatin’.” It was almost too dark now to find firewood, but everybody helped to look for it. One of the Indians went to a spring near by for water. Very soon a bright fire was blazing upon the beach, a potful of coffee was bubbling on the coals, while a pan of bacon sizzled near by. There was enough for all, and everybody was invited to the repast, the cups, saucers, and plates from The Rolling Stone being made to do as much duty as possible. Mary Brown declined to stay to supper. “Mother’ll be a-wonderin’ what’s become of me,” she said, “and she can’t send old Job down to see, cos she don’t want to be left by herself. I’m mighty glad you didn’t have a fight, but I was so afeard you was goin’ to be shot,” she said, addressing Chap, “that I jist clapped my sun-bonnet down over my eyes, and I didn’t know nothin’ what happened till I looked up and see you all dancin’ round and shakin’ hands. If any of you want anything to help camp, you can come up to the house and see if you can git it.” And then with a nod which seemed to be made to the party in general, the girl ran home. After half an hour of talk, our friends stowed themselves away in the cabin of The Rolling Stone, and the Indians made themselves as comfortable as possible on the sand at the edge of the woods. The sand was dry, the air was mild, and these hardy red men were very glad to have a bed so smooth and soft. “It is awful funny,” said Chap, before he went to sleep, “to think that I was leading a band of Indians through the woods to pounce down on you fellows. And yet, when I come to think of it, I wasn’t leading them so very much, either. Seems to me the people down this way don’t have the right idea of what a captain ought to be.” “Do you mean us?” said Phil, who shared the narrow bed. “Well, I don’t know,” answered Chap. “Your notions do seem to be a little loose; but I guess I’ll get you better disciplined after a while.” “All right,” said Phil. And he went to sleep. [Illustration] CHAPTER XVI. MARY BROWN SENDS A MESSAGE. The next morning every one was up and stirring long before sunrise. The Indians were well satisfied with a dollar apiece for their services, which had been truly valuable, for they had conducted Chap right into the arms of his friends, although the undertaking had been accompanied by great danger to all concerned, and they took a hasty breakfast and started off to continue their hunting expedition.