It was answered. One of the men waved to him. They came on faster, though he could see that they were heavily loaded, stumbling now and then in their haste. He could not imagine what had brought them into the wilds, but they were obviously well supplied, and he could purchase their provisions and recompense them for an abandoned journey. When they were close to him, the leader stopped a moment and called back to the others: "We've struck it right! It's Mr. Allinson!" Andrew, recognizing the man, whom he had seen at the Landing, stumbled forward and shook hands with him. "I'm uncommonly glad to see you; but what brought you here?" he cried. "Where's the rest of you?" the other asked. "Carnally's down the hill somewhere; Graham's in camp beyond the gap." The man looked relieved. "That's good. We felt scared when we saw you were alone. Thought we might have come too late, though we hurried some." "Then you knew we were here?" "Sure! Frobisher sent us up with provisions for you. We made a few caches as we came along, and there ought to be three more of the boys on the trail behind us. You don't want to worry; we'll see you down." Andrew felt shaky. Relief had come so unexpectedly; his troubles were over. But there was more than this. Frobisher had despatched the men; he might have done so at his daughter's request; at least it showed a very friendly feeling. Andrew began to wonder how Frobisher could have known he needed help; but this was a matter of much less importance, and he turned to the packers. "If one of you would go down the next spur and look for Carnally, I'd be glad," he said. "I expect he's near the river and he's pretty hungry." A man threw off his load and set off rapidly downhill, while Andrew climbed with the others toward the neck, scarcely able to keep on his feet. His companions slackened their pace and glanced at him compassionately. Crossing the gap, they saw the light of Graham's fire in the gathering dusk, and when they neared the belt of timber Andrew waved his hand to a dark figure that appeared in an opening among the trunks. "No more trouble!" he cried. "Help has arrived!" A few minutes later Graham shook hands with the newcomers, whom he knew. "Boys," he said hoarsely, "now that I see who you are, I know you made good time; and you hadn't much to spare. When did you leave?" One of them told him, and he and Andrew looked astonished, while the packer laughed. "We certainly hustled," he said with a deprecatory air. "But I've been four years at the mill and never had trouble over charging my time. Your pay-sheet was square." "That's so," agreed his companion. "They might have laid me off a while last summer when we ran out of logs, but Mr. Graham fixed it so I kept my job." Andrew smiled at Graham, who looked confused. "If you do these things, you must take the consequences; but I've met people with shorter memories."