It was too dark for him to see the horse outside, and Jack was quite unconscious by this time, so it would have fared badly with our friends in the storm, if the dog had not plunged forward over the snow and commenced barking frantically round them. This surprised the man, and procuring a lantern, he came towards the bars. 'What is it, Jim? Only coyotes, I believe. You silly old rogue!' he said as the dog rushed back to him; but as he got closer, he perceived the dark form of a horse. 'Hello! What have we here?' he exclaimed, as he let down the bars. 'A loose horse! Why, I declare, it's old Buck back again! But what has he got on his back? It looks like a child!' He quickly led the horse to the door, and by the light of the lantern untied the rope, and carried the motionless figure into the house. 'Here, wife,' he called out, 'come and see to this child, while I take the horse to the stable. It's the strangest thing I ever knew. Buck gets stolen, and to-night I find him at the bars in this blizzard, with a kid on his back!' A woman took the boy, and laid him on a couch some distance from the fire. She then removed the blanket, and was chafing the stiff limbs to bring back the circulation, when her husband returned, having made Buckskin as comfortable as possible in his own stable. 'Look! He's coming round a bit,' said the woman hopefully. 'Pour some warm coffee between his lips.' The man obeyed, and the liquid seemed to revive the unconscious boy. He sighed and opened his eyes. He saw a gentle face bending over him, and knew his troubles were ended. 'Oh, Mother darling! I ain't dead, and I've found you at last!' was his joyful cry, and the next moment he was folded in her loving arms. [Illustration: '"OH, MOTHER DARLING! I AIN'T DEAD, AND I'VE FOUND YOU AT LAST!"'] Such a meeting as this one between Jack and his long-lost parents is indescribable, and we must draw a veil over the first few hours of their happy reunion. 'Oh, George,' said the comforted mother later on, when Jack had quite recovered, 'isn't it wonderful how it all happened? To think that old Buck should have brought our own little Jack to our very door.' 'Yes, indeed,' returned her husband. 'What a merciful thing it was that Jim heard them at the bars, for Jack was very nearly done for with the awful cold!' Tears of joy had poured down the checks of the parents when they discovered it was really their darling who had come to them in the storm, and they did not forget to kneel down and thank God for His marvellous preservation of their child. 'Mother,' said Jack, 'you were right: you told me to ask God to take care of us until we met again, and He has done it.' 'Yes, that He has,' returned his mother; 'and we have much to thank Him for.' 'You stick to Him right through your life, Jack, as you've begun,' said George Wilson solemnly, 'for He's the best guide and protector any man can have.' 'I will, Daddy,' answered the boy firmly.