It was certainly a happy return, and that evening both bungalows were lit up brightly in honor of the occasion. Shadow was allowed to tell some of his best stories, Luke played on his banjo and his guitar, and the young folks sang one familiar song after another. Three days, including Sunday, passed, and then came another surprise. Late in the evening Dave heard a well-known whistle on the trail leading to Carpen Falls, and a little later one of the old stage coaches came into view. All in the bungalows ran out to meet the newcomers, who proved to be Dave's father, his uncle, Mr. Wadsworth, and Mr. Basswood. "Dad!" yelled Dave, and rushing to his parent he caught him tightly in his arms. "My boy! my boy!" murmured Mr. Porter. "How very glad I am that this black cloud has passed away. But, Dave, don't think that I believed that story. I thought it was a fake from the start." "And so did I," said Dunston Porter. "There couldn't be any Dave Porter but you!" and he gave Dave a good-natured thump between the shoulders that nearly knocked the wind out of the youth. "We've got more news," declared Mr. Wadsworth, as he, too, came up for a handshake, followed by Ben's father. "They have collared Link Merwell at last." "Is that so!" cried our hero. "Yes, they caught him in a pawnbroker's shop," said Mr. Basswood. "And the best part of it is that they caught him trying to pawn my wife's silver spoons and Laura's two rings. The pawnbroker got suspicious, and as he happened to be an honest man, he called in a detective. This detective remembered the picture he had seen printed of Link at the time he and Jasniff stole the jewelry, and he at once placed Link under arrest." "And then I went to see Link in prison," broke in Dave's father. "I had a long talk with him, about the burglary up here, and he admitted that he had thrown all that other stuff in the hollow just to inconvenience you. Then I made him confess that he and Ward Porton had concocted this scheme concerning Porton's identity between them. Merwell tried to bribe me by saying he wouldn't tell the truth about Porton unless I aided him to get clear of the charge made against him by Mr. Wadsworth. Of course I wouldn't agree to do that." "It won't be necessary to have Link Merwell testify against Porton," declared Dave. "I've got a document here that shows up Porton for just what he is;" and later on he allowed his father and the others to read the paper which he had had Obadiah L. L. Jones sign. "Oh, to think I'm to have my rings back, and Mrs. Basswood is to have her silverware!" cried Laura, with satisfaction. "Isn't it perfectly lovely?" The days to follow at Bear Camp were happy ones indeed. The boys went hunting and fishing to their hearts' content, and often took the girls out in the boats or in the canoes. In the meanwhile some of the men folks returned to Crumville, and Phil took his uncle home.