And then, in low tones, the fine old face glowing with enthusiasm, the monk talked to his little friend of Truth and Right, of Character and Principle, of Love and God, until the tears began to slowly steal down the rosy cheeks. A new resolution fixed itself in the Boy's soul. He _would_ live his own life. No other human being should do it for him. V HOME The mother's heart rebelled at last. She would not be put off longer. Her baby had been gone two years. She refused point blank to listen to any further argument. Charles Green, the young Mississippian, studying law in Kentucky, and acting as the Boy's guardian, was notified to bring him at the end of the spring term. On a glorious day in June they left Bardstown for Louisville, to take the new steamboat line for home. These wonderful boats were the marvels of their day. Their names conveyed but a hint of the awe they inspired. The fleet of three vessels bore the titles, _Volcano_, _Vesuvius_ and _AEtna_. And the sparks that flew heavenward from their black chimneys were far more impressive to the people who crowded the shores than the smoke and lava of old Vesuvius to the lazy loungers of Naples. The Boy saw his pony safely housed on board the _AEtna_, and amid the clang of bells and the scream of whistles, the floating wonder swung out from her wharf into the yellow tide of the Ohio. Scores of people crowded her decks for the pleasure of a ride ten miles down the river to return in their carriages. The Captain of the _AEtna_, Robinson DeHart, held the Boy in a spell by his lofty manners. He had been a sailor on board an ocean-going brig. To him the landing of his vessel was an event, no matter how often the stop was made, whether to put off a single passenger, or take on a regiment. In fact, he never landed the _AEtna_, even to take on a cord of wood, without the use of his enormous speaking trumpet and his big brass spy-glass. A beautiful, slow, uneventful voyage on the Father of Waters landed the Boy in safety at the Woodville stopping-place. He leaped down the gang-plank with a shout and clasped his Big Brother's hand. "My, my, but you've grown, Boy!" "Haven't I?" "Won't little mother be surprised and glad?" "Let's fool her," the Boy cried. "Let me go up by myself and she won't know me!" "All right--we'll try." The brother stopped at the village and the young stranger walked alone to his father's house. How beautiful it all seemed--the big log house with the cabins clustering around it! A horse neighed at the barn and a colt answered from the field.