"I think it is one of the very best you have told us," said Joe. "I wish I could have been with La Salle a part of the time. It must have been exciting, paddling through a strange country and sleeping at night by the side of a big camp-fire."
"I don't think you would have slept much at first, with wolves howling and wildcats screeching not far away," replied Uncle Sam. "Then how would you have enjoyed going without food for days together and having your clothes soaked through in the heavy rains?"
Even this unpleasant picture did not seem to frighten Joe. He was a "regular boy," as his mother said.
"If you are going to have adventures, you must take good and bad things together as they come," he said.
Uncle Sam was pleased with the answer.
"That is true, my dear, but remember one thing: No one should risk his life just for the sake of adventure alone. Yet, if he is trying to do some great and useful thing, as La Salle did, and cannot help meeting dangers, he should be praised for meeting them bravely and with a stout and trusting heart."
CHAPTER XII
THE STORY OF A YOUNG QUAKER
"I am so glad to see you again, Uncle Sam. It seems as though we had been away a whole year, yet it is not four weeks."