He left the child to her grandmother's care, and went out to meet Dick and the miller. The old man was thanking Dick with a voice which still quavered, for he had received a great shook.
'Don't worry,' said Chippy cheerfully; 'she'll soon be all right. Th' old lady's lookin' arter her. Now, Dick, wheer are ye goin' to dry yerself?'
'Come into the mill,' cried the old man. 'There's a good fire in the drying-kiln.'
'That'll do,' said the Raven, 'an' if ye'll kindly oblige wi' a blanket or suthin' to wrap him in while his things are a-dryin', that'll be all right.'
'Ay, sure, anythin' I've got ye're more than welcome to,' said the miller. 'I'll niver forget what ye've a-done this day. How I could ha' faced my son if aught had happened I don't know, an' that's truth.'
He took the scouts into the mill, and then hurried away to the house. Dick stripped off his dripping clothes, and the comrades wrung out all the wet they could before they hung them over the kiln.
'I can manage as soon as my shorts are dry,' said Dick. 'I chucked away the coat and haversack with the spare things in them, and they're dry now.'
The miller came in with a big blanket, and Dick wrapped himself in it, while Chippy ran off to collect the traps they had flung aside at the moment of the rescue. When he came back he began to laugh at sight of Dick.
'Now, Wolf,' he said, 'if yer 'ad a few feathers to stick in yer hair, ye'd look just like some big Injun sittin' outside his tent.'
'Outside his wigwam,' grinned Dick. 'Well, it's jolly comfortable inside a blanket, anyhow. You're pretty wet, Chippy.'