It was remarkable that in their conversation no conjecture was hazarded by either as to the probable fate of the missing one. Both, plainly, entertained the same painful surmise, which they were alike ashamed to breathe. They sat by the glowing backlog for many hours, hoping against hope that the wanderer might return, until Jeanie overcome by fatigue sought her bed. Once she awoke during the night, thinking she heard a voice. She listened in the darkness. It was her mother wrestling with God on behalf of her father. FOOTNOTE: [A] These rapids were known to old settlers as “Palmer’s rapids.” The quarrying of them for building purposes has greatly changed their appearance. CHAPTER II. Early next day Jeanie and her mother saw a short, stout man emerge from the woods. He was a stranger to them, but his aspect indicated he was a lumberman. He had a towsy head of reddish hair and a matted beard and whiskers of the same hue. “A pleasant day, ma’am,” he said, in a voice so soft and insinuating, and contrasting so strikingly with the roughness of his appearance, that Mrs Morison was somewhat startled. “It is, indeed, a fine spring day,” she replied. “And the water is high, ma’am, and the rafts are getting away finely--oh, very finely,” and the man stood complacently eyeing the mother and daughter, and rubbing his hands. “Hae ye seen ocht o’ my husband? Ye’ll hae come about him?” “Oh, my dear ma’am, don’t fret; take it coolly and comfortable like.” “I see ye ken aboot him; oh, dinna play wi’ me, but tell me at once.” Not in the least discomposed, the little man, in more oily tones than ever, replied, “Well, well, ma’am, there is no denying it, accidents will happen, you know. You shouldn’t be supposing the worst, and taking it easy, for”-- Before he could finish his sentence there was heard a heavy trampling in the woods, and soon there came from beneath their cover half a dozen men, four of them carrying a burden laid on two poles. They came in silence to the door, when Mrs Morison saw their burden was her husband. She snatched away the red handkerchief that covered his face, a glance at which showed her he was dead. She gave a shriek that resounded through the forest, and fell senseless upon the corpse.