John, who had released his mother, stood by in silence; while Joseph, secure in his welcome, gathered his mother in his arms and exclaimed, "It is now my turn to give you a bear hug. Take this, and this!" and he clasped her with half-savage tenderness again and again.
"Yes, mother!" cried the father, who, overcome by his emotions, dropped feebly into his chair. Then, controlling his feelings by a strong effort of the will, he added with a laugh, "Hadn't we better kill the prodigal, seeing the calf has come home?"
At a late hour a frugal meal was spread, to which the weary home-comers did enforced justice, the mother on one side of the table weeping and laughing by turns, and the father on the other side endeavoring with indifferent success to be dignified and calm.
The brothers eyed each other askance as the supper proceeded, especially noticing the absence of the many little luxuries for which the Ranger tables had formerly been noted throughout the township.
"Father and I don't have much appetite, so we don't lay in many extras nowadays," said the mother.
"We 've been having a hard time of it since you left us, John," broke in the father. "The fellow that bought the sawmill didn't understand the business, and he soon swamped it. So Lije had to take it off his hands, and it left us mighty hard up. Lije has a big family, and the gals want clothes and schoolin', and Mary is poorly and needs medicines; so mother and I do without lots of things we need. It was lucky for all hands, though, that Annie sent back that deed to -the Robinson old folks. They 're independent now, in a small way. They have their own garden and cow and fruit and poultry, and they made enough off of their truck-patch last summer to pay their taxes and buy groceries. They don't need many new clothes. They have bought a sleigh and a horse, so they can go to meetin' Simdays; and next
