“Dot’s all right, so long vot you are mit us, but ven you be gone ve shall go hungry, for I could not shoot a pirt if mein life tependet upon it. Yah, you are right. Ve vill be petter to eat somedings.” As Helen went to cut the bacon, to fry, she was astonished to see that it showed that a piece had been cut from it, and that the hearth showed evidence of a recent fire. But she said nothing, and proceeded to prepare a thick cake of the flour, to bake in the pan, after which she would fry the bacon. The coffee would cook at the same time. She went outside, to gather some dry wood, and as she stooped down to pick up one piece she found the stump of the cigar; and, in some inscrutable way, she associated this fragment with her recreant husband. It was just this way that the ends were always chewed, and smoked just so far. And it was fresh. It had not lain long in this place, for it showed neither dust nor was it dry. John Pierson had passed by this place, Helen felt sure, but why? With the habit of silence induced by the solitary life in the mountains, Helen kept her discovery to herself, and in a short time they were all eating their repast thus miraculously provided. And neither Morris nor Bennie thought about the forbidden flesh until it was all eaten, so sharp had been their hunger and so many had been the events crowded into their lives recently. When they did realize it, they were contrite, but they recognized the virtue of necessity. In this place, as in all mines, bacon is the mainstay, without which nothing could be done. After the meagre but satisfying dinner was finished, Helen put the remains of the bacon and flour back into the hanging-box and they prepared to continue their journey. Even Bennie was silent and somber, and Loney was so tired that his legs trembled, even when Helen held her sustaining arm around him. She began to wonder how this strange trio could manage to live the life of hardship before them, and said as much to Morris, who replied: “Ah, I must do it; and, since I do it for Dora, it is not going to pe too hart for me. I vill vork so hart as nefer vos to fint de golt, und mit dot I can soon fint her. Come, childrens, ve must go on along. De sooner ve start, de sooner ve get dere. Und den ve rest to-night und get busy to-morrow. I vish ve hat Jake vonce more.” “Do you think you will surely be able to stand the work, Mr. Goldberg--alone?” “Hafen’t I got Bennie and Loney? Vot more do I vant, oxcept a putcher-shop und a crocery close py. De question of vere de meals is to come from is vot bodders me in my mind.” “I wanted to say that I will stay up here a short time until you learn how to manage. I am a good hunter and think we can keep enough food on hand to keep us from starvation.” Bennie plodded on gloomily ahead, saying nothing, but bending his strong young back under the burden of impedimenta, among them a complete shoemaker’s outfit--all save the bench.