"You were a friend of my boy."
"Yes, sir," again responded Peleg, his voice breaking once more in spite of his efforts at self-control.
"You shall be my friend from this time forward. You cannot take the place of James, but because you were his friend you shall have a share, if you so desire, such as he might have had, in my life and my plans. Your father is not living?"
"He has been dead three years."
"And your mother?"
"She died when I was a baby."
"Then there is no one to whom you can turn?"
"I have lived with my uncle, but I have no desire to go back to him."
Boone looked keenly into the face of the boy by his side and was silent a moment. "Peleg," he resumed, "I meant what I said just now. If you so desire, you shall be my friend."