The visitor waited for the invitation before he entered and stood before them.
His excuses for so late a call were made without touch of awkwardness.

"We are camped at the end of the portage above the rapids.

The tent had to be pitched and things put in order to make the Belgians comfortable for the night.

When I set out I knew it was hardly the hour for a call and that the paths through the woods must be pretty bad.

But I started all the same, and when I saw your light..." His high Indian boots were caked with mud to the knee; he breathed a little deeply between words, like a man who has been running; but his keen eyes were quietly confident.
"Only Tit'Be has changed," said he.