“Yes, we are, Sam,” said Henry.
“And glad of it,” added Dave.
The start for home did not take place until winter had again set in. They went with a great number of other soldiers as far as Philadelphia, and then struck out for themselves, in company with half a dozen neighbors and White Buffalo.
At Winchester both James and Joseph Morris met them, and the meeting between fathers and sons was a most affectionate one. Nor were Sam Barringford and White Buffalo forgotten. There were many embraces, and the story of the boys’ doings, and of the others, had to be told over and over again.
“The best news from home is that Rodney is improving fast,” said Joseph Morris. “The last operation on his leg was a complete success, so the doctors say, and by next spring they think he will be almost as strong as any of us.”
“Next spring I am going back to the Kinotah,” said James Morris. “My claim to that land is now fully established, and with Jean Bevoir dead there is little likelihood that anybody will ever try to disturb me again.”
“Bevoir dead?” burst out Dave. “How do you know that?”
“Why didn’t you hear of it?” queried his father. “And you right on the ground too!”
“I heard nothing of him later than when he threatened Henry at Montreal.”
“When Montreal was besieged Jean Bevoir joined a crowd of men who tried to loot many of the houses and stores. The French guard got after the pilferers and shot some of them down, and then they fled out of the city, and the English soldiers shot down the rest, or made them prisoners. Among the number shot down was Jean Bevoir. This news came straight to me from two soldiers who were at Winchester last week.”