Ross told of the long search for the two boys. He and Mr. Ware
and Shif'less Sol and a half dozen others had never ceased to seek them.
They feared at one time that they had been carried off by savages, but
nowhere did they find Indian traces. Then their dread was of starvation
or death by wild animals, and they had begun to lose hope.
Both Henry and Paul were deeply moved by the story of the grief at
Wareville. They knew even without the telling that this sorrow had never
been demonstrative. The mothers of the West were too much accustomed to
great tragedies to cry out and wring their hands when a blow fell.
Theirs was always a silent grief, but none the less deep.
Then, guided by Ross and the shiftless one, they proceeded to Wareville
which was really at the bottom of the smoke spire, where they were
received, as two risen from the dead, in a welcome that was not noisy,
but deep and heartfelt. The cow, the original cause of the trouble, had
wandered back home long ago.
"How did you live in the forest?" asked Mr. Ware of Henry, after the
first joy of welcome was shown.
"It was hard at first, but we were beginning to learn," replied the boy.
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