“You are Ralph Morton.”
“Yes,” with a sigh. “My crime is too great to be forgiven. ’Twas all my fault. Your Bessie fled because I threatened. Forgive her!”
“I did, long ago,” said Wolf-Cap, with tearful eyes.
“She is dead, then?”
“Yes. Huldah, this man is your father. He will tell you all. Card Belt, you can not take vengeance now, for I am dying.”
But little remains to be told to complete our story now. Wolf-Cap guided Mark Harmon to a minister in the beautiful Muskingum valley, and saw his long-lost daughter take the vows of a bride. For many years the trio dwelt in the then town of Mansfield; but in the city of the same name, their descendants dwell and are honored to-day.
After all, it was well that Matt Hunter stole Huldah from Fort Strong, for in the massacre that followed she would doubtless have perished. Silver Hand lived to a good old age, a true friend to the Americans, and the grasses of but four summers have waved over his grave.
As for Johnny Appleseed, who appeared in the opening of our romance, we may say, that he, too, fell beneath death’s sickle, ripe for the harvest of the simply just.
Roy Funk sleeps in Wolf’s Den, while the bones of his followers have been covered by populous cities and flourishing towns.
THE END.