His infallible rifle never missed, and in the little hut in the marsh
the stock of furs and skins grew so fast that scarcely room for himself
was left. He hid a fresh store at another place in the forest, and then
he returned to Wareville for a day. His father greeted him with some
constraint, not with coldness exactly, but with lack of understanding.
His mother and his sister wept with joy and Mrs. Ware said: "I was
expecting you about this time and you have not disappointed me."
He stayed two days and his keen eyes, so observant of material matters,
noted that the colony was not doing well for the time, the drought
having almost ruined the crops and there was full promise of scanty food
and a hard winter. Now came his opportunity. He had looked upon his
month in the forest as in part a holiday, and he never intended to throw
aside all responsibility for others, roving the wilderness absolutely
free from care. He knew that he would have work to do, he felt that he
should have it, and now he saw the way to do the kind of work that he
loved to do.
He replenished his supply of ammunition, took up his rifle again and
returned to the forest.
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