Socky woke and rubbed his eyes when he and his sister were taken out of the wagon. Sue continued to sleep, although carried like a sack of meal under the arm of the driver and Silas Strong laid amidships on a blanket. Mr. Tupper, the mill man, gave them a piece of meat which, out of courtesy to the law, he called "mountain lamb." With pack aboard and Socky on a blanket in the bow, Gordon pushed his canoe into the current. All who journeyed to the Lost River country from the neighborhood of Hillsborough arrived at Tupper's late in the afternoon. There, generally, they took canoe and paddled six miles to a log inn at the head of the still water. But as Gordon started from Tupper's Mill down stream he had in mind a destination not on any map of this world. Socky sat facing him, a little hand on either gunwale. Socky had thought often that day of the incident of the night before and of his father's poverty. Now he looked him over from head to foot. He saw the little steel chain fastened to his father's waistcoat and leading into the pocket where he knew that his own watch lay hidden. The look of it gave him a feeling of great virtue and satisfaction. "Father, will you please tell me what time it is?" he inquired. Gordon removed the watch from his pocket. "Half-past six. We've got to push on." It was fine to see that watch in his father's hand. "I'm going to give it to you," said the boy, soberly. "You can wear it Sundays an' every day." Gordon looked into the eyes of his son. He saw there the white soul of the little traveller just entering upon the world. "I'm going to buy you some new clothes, too," said Socky, now overflowing with generosity. "Where'll you get the money?" "From my Uncle Silas." After a few moments Socky added, "If I was Lizzie Cornell's father I'd give her a good whipping." They rode in silence awhile, and soon the boy lay back on his blanket looking up at the sky. "Father," said he, presently. "What?" "I'm good to you, ain't I?" "Very." There was a moment of silence, and then the boy added, "I love you." Those words gave the man a new sense of comfort. If he could have done so he would have embraced his son and covered his face with kisses. The sun had sunk low and they were entering the edge of the night and the woodland. Soon the boy fell asleep. The silence of the illimitable sky seemed to be flooding down and delightful sounds were drifting on its current. They had passed the inn, long ago and walls of fir and pine were on either side of them. Gordon put into a deep cove, stopping under the pine-trees with his bow on a sand-bar. Then he let himself down, stretching his legs on the canoe bottom and lying back on his blanket.