"Joe's got good pluck, I must say," exclaimed Tom Hallet, turning about to take a last look at Mr. Warren's warden, who was just disappearing in the gloom of the woods. "I don't think I should be afraid to be left here alone, but I am very well satisfied to have you with me."
And Joe Morgan would have been better satisfied if he, too, had had a companion to talk to, instead of being obliged to roam about by himself. But he was working for money, of which his mother stood in need, and he did his duty, although (candor compels us to say it) he gave the gorge a wide berth.
The startling events of the morning and the many warnings he had received were of too recent occurrence to be forgotten, and he didn't care if he never saw that gorge again; still, he would have gone even there if he had seen or heard the least thing to indicate that poachers were at work in that vicinity.
He kept a sharp eye on his watch, and when the clumsy-looking hands told him that he had just time enough left to get home before dark, he bent his steps toward the wood-pile, which he always took as his point of departure, carrying a light heart in his breast, and the happy consciousness that he had left nothing undone.
"On the contrary, it's the best day's work I ever did," said Joe, to himself. "Three thousand three hundred dollars, and a little more for my share of the reward! Wh-e-w! I do wish I could think of some way to keep it from father's knowledge and Dan's; but they are bound to hear of it, and make me all the trouble they can concerning it, and I don't know but I might as well face the music to-night as any other time."
The future looked as bright to the young game-warden as it did to Silas Morgan the first time we saw him moving down that road. But there was this difference between the two: Joe had something tangible upon which to build his hopes, while his father had nothing but the letter he held in his hand.
His mother was the first to greet him when he reached home; indeed, she was the only one of the family there was in sight. She was surprised and startled to see him, but she saw at a glance that there was no cause for alarm.
"Where's father and Dan?" inquired Joe, taking the precaution to open the door, which had been closed behind him.