My son, give me thine heart_." Dick's eyes filled with tears while the sound, as it were, of his mother's voice thus reached him unexpectedly in that lonely wilderness.

Like too many whose hearts are young and gay, Dick had regarded religion, if not as a gloomy, at least as not a cheerful thing.

But he felt the comfort of these words at that moment, and he resolved seriously to peruse his mother's parting gift in time to come.
The sun was hot, and a warm breeze gently shook the leaves, so that Dick's garments were soon dry.

A few minutes served to change the locks of his rifle, draw the wet charges, dry out the barrels, and re-load.

Then throwing it across his shoulder, he entered the wood and walked lightly away.