“And that was why he smiled when you told him where we meant to bring up?”

“Yes, Bluff, that was the reason.  Now you know he is a banker and a capitalist.  In times gone by he used to be in Wall Street, so he had connection with many men who were investors.  One friend of his, named Joseph Sprague Abercrombie, who was an engineer, entrusted some money to him to invest in certain stocks.  By an unfortunate turn of the market those stocks became seemingly valueless.  They have lain in his safe for ten years.”

“Say! it’s growing exciting!  I can see what’s coming!” cried Bluff.

“Meanwhile, my father had lost all track of his once boyhood friend Joe.  Then, by a strange freak of fate, the corporation that had issued those stocks suddenly became alive.  Everything they owned began to prosper.  Their mines turned out rich investments, their timber lands found a big market.  The apparently worthless stock, taken from the safe and put on the market at its highest point, brought in a fortune for Joseph Abercrombie or his heirs!”

“Hurrah!” shouted Will, embracing little Joe in the exuberance of his joy.

“Talk to me about magic, will you!  This thing has the Arabian Nights beaten all to a frazzle, and that’s what I think!” laughed Jerry, pumping the hand of Joe vigorously.

“My father tried hard to locate his old friend.  By degrees he found that he had gone South, soon after sinking his little savings in what seemed to have been worthless stock.  Then he learned that he had lost his life on the road, and that his family with but scant means, had moved to Cedar Keys, where they were still living, according to what information he could secure.”

“It’s great, that’s what!  And to think that we should have run across Joe here in such a marvelous way!” said Bluff.

“Yes,” spoke up the lad quickly, “and I believe you saved my life, too.  I’d been killed by them men, my uncle with the rest; or else I’d tried to escape, and might ‘a’ lost myself ashore, to died in the swamps.  I’ll never forget it, never!”

After all, that evening was by long odds the happiest of the whole trip.  They sat around the fire until long after midnight.  Indeed, it was hard to get any one to admit that he was sleepy in the least degree.

“Our last camp, fellows.  Perhaps we may never be able to all meet under canvas again,” said Jerry as they finally set about seeking their beds.

If Jerry could have lifted the curtain of the future a bit he would never have ventured that doleful prophecy.  There were other camps in store for the four outdoor chums, many of them, and in a country whither their longing souls had often turned—­the wilderness around the great Rockies.  But it is not our province to mention any of the wonderful adventures that were fated to befall them there.  All those things will be duly set down in the next volume of this series, which will be called:  “The Outdoor Chums After Big Game; or, Perilous Adventures in the Wilderness.”