"But father will come again--he will come right back--I know he will," Frank murmured resolutely through his tears.
"Yes, if mother is not too sick to be left," conjectured Mary.
"Come, children," said Robert, with an air of sullen resolve, "it is of no use to stand here idle. Let us go back to the prairie, and build our boats."
"But not before we have left word on the flag-staff to tell where we are to be found," Harold added. A bitter smile played around the corners of Robert's mouth, as muttering something about "locking the door after the steed is stolen," he took out his pencil, and wrote in deep black letters,
"The lost company, together with Sam, a servant, are to be found at a small prairie three or four miles south-east from this point. We have lost our boat, and are building another.
"Dec. 10, 1830. ROBERT GORDON."
They collected another pile of wood and grass for a fire signal near their flag-staff, and then with slow, sad steps, turned their faces once more to the prairie.
CHAPTER XXX
BEST CURE FOR UNAVAILING SORROW--MARY'S ADVENTURE WITH A BEAR--NOVEL DEFENCE--PROTECTING THE TENT
It was natural that the youthful company should be much cast down by this misfortune. But recent experiences had taught them many valuable lessons, and had caused them to practise, more fully than they would have otherwise, those wise maxims which had formed no small part of their education. While Robert and Mary were yet anguished with their sense of disappointment, Harold cheerfully remarked: