His task was done, and he hoped in a few days more to reap the reward of his labor.
The boys felt like resting now.

They had worked long and faithfully, and they were all relieved to know that their time was their own.

Don and Bert paid daily visits to their bear trap, hunted wild turkeys and drove the ridges for deer, while David stayed at home and made himself useful there, until he began to think it time to hear from somebody, and then he took to hanging about the post-office as persistently as ever his father had done.

Finally, his anxiety was relieved by the arrival of the first letter that had ever been addressed to himself.

He tore it open with eager hands, and read that the quails had been received in good order, and that the money, amounting to one hundred and ninety-two dollars and fifty cents, had been paid over to the agent from whom they were received.