“Shot down!” repeated Dave. Then he drew a deep breath. “Well, if he was shot down outside of the city perhaps I had a hand in it. But I don’t know for sure, and—and—I’m rather glad of it.”
“He deserved what he got,” came from Barringford. “He was a traitor to everybuddy, even his best friends.” And the others felt that the old frontiersman spoke the exact truth.
Yet though they all thought Jean Bevoir dead such was not a fact. The French trader was seriously wounded, and for a long while lay between life and death. But he ultimately recovered, and how he crossed the path of our friends later on will be told in another volume, to be entitled, “On the Trail of Pontiac; or, The Pioneer Boys of the Ohio,” in which we shall meet many of our old characters again and learn something of what was done to establish trading-posts on the Kinotah and elsewhere after the war with France, and of how the wily Indian chief Pontiac did his best to wipe out all white settlements in that territory.
The home-coming was an event long to be remembered. As the riders came in sight of the new cabin Mrs. Morris, Rodney, and little Nell rushed out to greet them.
“Home again! Home again!” shouted Dave and Henry, and flung themselves into the arms out-stretched to receive them.
“My son!” murmured Mrs. Morris, as she kissed Henry, “and my Dave!” she added, as she also kissed her nephew.
“Oh, but aint I dreadfully delighted to see you back,” piped up little Nell, and kissed them all around, even to White Buffalo. “And now you mustn’t go away again, none of you, but stay with me for years and years and years!”
“That’s the way to talk, Nell,” said Rodney, also beaming with pleasure. “We’ve had enough of this going-away to last for a lifetime.” And then he added: “Just watch how I can walk now!” and led the way to the cabin, walking almost as well as any of them.
It was an old-time feast that awaited those who had come to the cabin, and it lasted far into the night. During that time many neighbors dropped in, wishing them well.
“It would seem that all of our troubles are at an end,” said Mrs. Morris. “Now if the Indians will only keep the peace I am sure we will prosper.”