Ye can stay to the raisin', an' gi'en us a little lift with the other fellers that's comin'.

Ye'll be as strong as a hoss when ye go out." An announcement more welcome than this could not have been made to Sam Yates; and now that there was no secrecy between them, and confidence was restored, he looked forward to a fortnight of enjoyment.

He laid aside his coat, and, as far as possible, reduced his dress to the requirements of camp life.

Jim and Mr.Benedict were very busy, so that he was obliged to find his way alone, but Jim lent him his fishing-tackle, and taught him how to use it; and, as he was an apt pupil, he was soon able to furnish more fish to the camp than could be used.
Yates had many a long talk with Benedict, and the two men found many points of sympathy, around which they cemented a lasting friendship.
Both, though in different ways, had been very low down in the valley of helpless misfortune; both had been the subjects of Mr.Belcher's brutal will; and both had the promise of a better life before them, which it would be necessary to achieve in opposition to that will.

Benedict was strengthened by this sympathy, and became able to entertain plans for the assertion and maintenance of his rights.
When Yates had been at the camp for a week and had taken on the color and the manner of a woodsman, there came one night to Number Nine a dozen men, to assist in the raising of Jim's hotel.