PEACE AFTER STRIFE--CONCLUSION
Lub uttered a gurgle to indicate his consternation. Ethan and Phil
exchanged knowing looks, as though to say it was coming out just as they
had figured.
The guide was a dark-faced native. He had evidently been having a hard
time of it during that terrible storm, with possibly an hysterical woman
on his hands, and no proper shelter. He waved his hand at the boys, and
looked pleased to see them coming to their relief.
As they entered the camp they saw that the woman was sitting up. She
looked as though she could not have stood much more. In spite of all the
Adirondack guide may have done in trying to shield her from the torrents
of rain, she had been wet through and through. Even sitting close to the
fire for a long time had not caused her to stop shivering.
"We've come down here to see if we could help you any," Phil said the
first thing, when he and his chums reached the fire.
"How'd ye know we was around these diggin's?" asked the guide, as though
puzzled.
"We've got a gentleman in camp with a badly broken leg, and he asked us
to come," Phil went on to say, narrowly watching the eager face of the
woman, who he could see was by breeding a lady, and a very handsome one
too no doubt, though just at that time she looked woe-begone, with her
long hair hanging down her back to dry, and her khaki outing skirts
bedraggled. "He's been worrying all the night, and nearly crazy because
he was afraid some one would be caught in the storm, some one he
expected was coming to find him."
Waves of color passed over her face as she heard how the gentleman had
been so deeply concerned.
"Would you mind telling me his name?" she asked Phil; and somehow the
boy was reminded of Mazie when he looked more closely at her.
"He has been calling himself John Newton all along," he remarked; "but
just this morning he admitted that his real name was Merriwell--Alwyn
Merriwell."
She drew a long breath. Her eyes were as bright as stars as she
hurriedly went on to ask another question; and both Phil and Ethan knew
exactly what this would be before she had uttered a single word.
"Is there a little girl with--Mr. Merriwell? Oh! please tell me
instantly, for I am crazy to hear!"
"Yes, and her name is Mazie!" Phil immediately replied. "We found her
lost in the woods, and took her to our camp. Then later on we ran across
him. He had broken his leg while searching for her, and tried to crawl
miles, thinking to get help from us so as to find her. He came near
dying, too."
She dropped her head in her hands, and they could see that she was
crying very hard. Whether it was through sheer thankfulness because of
what she had heard concerning the presence of the child, or from some
other reason, Phil could not quite understand. But he believed it was
all going to turn out splendidly.
Presently she looked up, and smiled bravely through her tears. Phil
could see that a new happiness had come upon her; and he guessed the
cause.
"I am Mazie's own mother," she said, to the astonishment of Lub, who up
to then had not been able to figure things out correctly; "there was a
terrible misunderstanding between my husband and myself. The court gave
me charge of our child. His love for Mazie was an absorbing passion,
even greater than my own. One day she disappeared, and we had reason to
suspect that he had taken her away, so that she could be with him. Ever
since I have sought far and wide to find them, but until lately without
avail."
She stopped speaking, and seemed to be thinking for a minute; then went
on, for of course none of the boys had ventured to say a single word:
"Of late I have learned through the death of a wicked person that I had
wronged my husband dreadfully. I am only waiting to see him to ask his
forgiveness; and unless he has lost all his love for me we may undo the
wretched past, and start all over again, with Mazie the bond between
us."
She had said quite enough for them to understand. Phil was wondering
whether they might not have to construct another litter in order to
carry the lady all the way to the distant camp.
"Oh! have no fears for me," she hastened to tell him, when he started to
speak of such a thing. "I feel as though I could walk from now to
sunset, and not grow weary, knowing that Mazie, and Alwyn, are at the
end of the trail. We cannot start too soon to satisfy my yearning heart.
I could almost fly as though I had wings."
And, indeed, there was no difficulty in her keeping up with them. The
new hope of happiness, after all these dreary months of wretchedness,
buoyed her heart up as possibly nothing else could have done.
Before noon had arrived they drew near the cabin under the hemlocks and
birches. The sky had cleared, and the sun shone warmly. All nature
looked bright again after the storm.
"Listen!" cried the lady, suddenly.
It was the sweet childish voice of Mazie they heard, singing one of her
little songs, which the boys had never tired of hearing. Imagine how it
affected the mother, separated from her darling so long.
She could not be longer restrained, but rushing ahead passed inside the
cabin. The boys purposely loitered. When finally they ventured to enter
it was to find the lady on her knees, with the arms of the child tightly
clasped about her neck. She had one of the wounded man's hands in hers;
and apparently the breach between them had been healed, for he was
looking upon mother and child with a love light in his eyes.
This influx of guests was getting serious, X-Ray and Lub had a regular
argument as to which one should surrender his bunk to Mazie's mother.
She would not hear of any such thing, however, and insisted that there
was plenty of room for both Mazie and herself in the one bunk.
And after she had recovered from her exposure Mrs. Merriwell insisted on
making herself useful, both in the way of a nurse, and in helping with
the cooking. As for Mazie's "daddy," he no longer looked the unhappy man
the boys had considered him; since he was not going to be called upon to
make that terrible sacrifice which he had considered was his duty.
This new arrangement left the boys more opportunity to prosecute their
various pleasures. Lub had begun to show a decided interest in certain
things connected with woodcraft, so that Ethan only too gladly accepted
every chance to explain how to follow a trail, what certain signs stood
for, what was the best way to make a fire in a storm, and dozens of
other things equally as interesting.
Of course Phil was more than ever engaged with his flashlight
photography. He had secured a startling picture of the red fox whose
tracks he had discovered; and this spurred him on to greater things.
Often Ethan kept him company, and showed that he had really started to
take a deep interest in this newer method of hunting without a gun.
Mr. Merriwell steadily grew better. He hopped around by the aid of his
crutches, and hoped to be able to walk some by the time the Mountain
Boys thought of leaving the North Woods for their home town, which was
further south, though still in the uplands.
Josh Maxfield, the guide, stayed with them. He made himself useful, and
Ethan managed to pick up quite a fund of information from the
experienced native, who had been born and bred in the pine woods.
Many were the cheery evenings they all spent, in front of the cabin if
it happened to be warm, or before the fire if the night air was chilly,
as often turned out to be the case. Josh had plenty of interesting
stories to tell. Mazie in particular was keenly interested in his
accounts of how the black bear outwitted the honey bees that had made
their hive in an old hollow tree; so that he usually secured a sweet
treat as long as he could reach in with his paw, and tear the heavily
laden combs out.
All too soon did the days pass, until finally it was decided that they
must be starting back over the old trail.
Every one would be sorry indeed to say farewell to Birch Bark Lodge. The
Merriwells made Phil promise to send them a set of all his pictures, and
in particular the one that showed the dear old cabin.
"It stands for our new life," said the gentleman, as he sat there one
arm around his wife, and the other about Mazie; "and every time we look
at it our vows will be renewed. Besides, all the happy things that have
happened here must rush over our memories. Yes, it will be our standard
cure for the blues."
Although the lame man was getting around pretty well, Phil knew he would
never be able to stand such a long and arduous journey as the one they
had ahead of them. Accordingly they made over the stretcher, with the
help of Josh, and meant to carry it along. Of course once they managed
to reach the village, where there would be a road leading out of the
wilderness, and possibly some sort of vehicle to hire, things would be
much easier.
"One thing sure," said Phil, as they got ready to clear out one bright
morning, "I've had glorious good luck in taking all the pictures I did.
Why, I've beaten my highest expectations three times over. The
collection will fill a new album; and right in front I'll have stamped
in letters of gold: 'Memories of Birch Bark Lodge.'"
"Yes, we'll never forget what a grand good time we've all had up here,"
affirmed Lub, who seemed to feel the breaking away even more than any of
his chums; "and often when I'm snuggled down between common every-day
sheets at home I'll dream of my fine bunk, and the way my blanket kept
me warm."
"And what came down the chimney one night," added X-Ray Tyson; "not to
mention what _tried_ to come down the next day. Oh! we'll all enjoy
remembering things. And I don't believe we could ever have such a
magnificent time together again."
"Don't be too sure of that," Phil told him. "I can see some other
outings ahead that may even turn out to be jollier than this one,
though it seems hard to think it now. Let's give the old cabin a last
salute, boys. Three cheers and a tiger for Birch Bark Lodge!"
They were given with a will. Even little Mazie added her childish treble
to the volume of sound that went up.
So they pulled out, and left the old cabin tenantless. The gray
squirrels could run over the roof with impunity now; Br'er 'Coon might
wander along his trail down to the water's edge to do a little fishing,
without having a sudden blinding flash startle him out of his seven
senses; while Br'er Fox need not skulk in the dense covert for fear of
meeting roving boys.
But the bear that had fallen down the chimney, and the lordly moose had
better make themselves scarce in that particular neighborhood; because
ere many moons had waxed and waned Josh intended coming back again to
look them up; and the law would no longer protect the shy inmates of the
North Woods against the "sticks that spat out fire and stinging
missiles" whenever they were pointed straight.
The man with the broken leg soon gave out, and had to take to the
stretcher. The sturdy woods guide carried one end and the boys took
turns helping out, so they got along very well.
Mazie and her mother walked alongside, though from time to time the
little sprite would insist on taking Phil's hand; or it might be that of
stout Lub. She had made him promise he would send her his picture when
he got home; and Lub always grinned when X-Ray Tyson or Ethan tried to
joke him about his "new girl."
They arrived at the mountain village, and a vehicle was obtained by
means of which all of them could get out of the region, and in touch
with civilization. When it came to saying good-by to the Merriwells the
boys found it very hard. The gentleman declared they would see them all
again as soon as he found himself perfectly well; for he wanted to know
their families; and doubtless meant to inform these good people as to
the extent of the debt of gratitude he owed Phil Bradley and his
Mountain Boys.
That still more thrilling happenings were in store for the boys whose
fortunes we have been following in the pages of this volume the reader
will learn upon securing the next story of the Series, now published
under the title of "Phil Bradley at the Wheel; or, The Mountain Boys'
Mad Auto Chase."
THE END
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The Mountain Boys Series
1. PHIL BRADLEY'S MOUNTAIN BOYS
2. PHIL BRADLEY AT THE WHEEL
3. PHIL BRADLEY'S SHOOTING BOX
4. PHIL BRADLEY'S SNOW-SHOE TRAIL
These books describe with interesting detail the experiences of a party
of boys among the mountain pines.
They teach the young reader how to protect himself against the elements,
what to do and what to avoid, and above all to become self-reliant and
manly.
12mo. Cloth. 40 cents per volume; postpaid
The New York Book Company
201 East 12th Street--New York
End of Project Gutenberg's Phil Bradley's Mountain Boys, by Silas K. Boone