The hungry boy was delighted when a few moments later a fish, finding its progress barred in either direction, leaped out of the water. Reuben succeeded in striking it with the club he was carrying, and watched it as it fell on the ground several feet away from the stream. If there was one fish in the water, he concluded there must be others, and quickly he repeated his tactics. After two failures he succeeded in obtaining another fish, and finally threw the third up on the bank. The last was larger than the other two combined. Again the problem of his supper had been solved. He soon secured the three fish he had taken and, returning to the spot where he had left his belongings, he at once made them ready for cooking. Afterward he collected a mass of branches which had fallen from the nearby trees and was preparing to kindle a fire. In the midst of his occupation he abruptly stopped. Should he light a fire? It is true it might not only provide a means of cooking the fish, but also indicate to Jean, who could not be far away, the presence of his camp. On the other hand, the Indians he recently had seen had told him that many more redmen were among the mountains. They, too, might see the fire and might steal upon him unaware. The feeling of hunger, however, was so strong that Reuben soon decided in favour of a fire. Disregarding the danger, by means of his flint and tinder he soon started a roaring blaze. He had made a rude little fireplace by piling some of the stones in such a manner that the top was covered. On this top he placed a large, flat stone, and upon this he laid two of the trout. It was not long before Reuben had a supper not only “fit for a king,” but such a supper as a king is seldom permitted to enjoy. It is true all the salt which he and Jean had brought had been in the saddlebags of the trapper, but the mountain trout were delicious even without salt. By the time Reuben’s supper was eaten he was aware that the brief sunset was nearly ended. Much of his anxiety had now departed and he was quite content, as he said to himself, to let Jean do the searching. He seated himself upon the ground, leaning back against the trunk of a huge tree, and as he listened to the music of the noisy little brook and watched the scurrying clouds pass across the evening sky he was even more decided that Jean might find him if he should search diligently.