day after I went to stay with Uncle Stephen, some little time before
sunset I saw a horseman approaching the house from the eastward. He was
a middle-aged man, dressed in a suit of dark grey, with his legs encased
in strong leather gaiters, and a broad-brimmed hat on his head; a pair
of huge saddle-bags, too, were thrown across the hardy-looking mustang
he bestrode. He had neither gun over his shoulder nor sword by his
side; but he carried a thick staff of considerable length in his hand.

"Canst tell me, young friend, if yonder house is the abode of Stephen
Tregellis?" he asked as I advanced towards him.

"Yes, sir. He is my uncle," I answered, offering to hold his nag's head
while he dismounted.

He threw himself from the saddle with the activity of a young man.

"I hope, then, that I shall not intrude, for I have come far, and should
like to spend a few days with one who, if I am not wrongly informed,
will receive me as a brother Christian," he said.

"Uncle Stephen will be glad to see you, sir," I answered, feeling sure
that I was only saying what was the case.

"Well, then, young man, go in and tell him that Martin Godfrey has come
to claim his hospitality."

As my uncle had just reached home, I hurried in and gave him the
message. He immediately came out and welcomed the stranger, with whom
he had a short conversation, which I did not hear, as I was holding the
pony at a little distance. I only caught the words, uttered by my
uncle, "We will make ready a small upper room, and to that you shall be
welcome as long as you remain in these parts."

He then told me to take the mustang round to the stable, to rub him
down, and feed him well, and to bring the minister's saddle-bags into
the house. When I returned, after having obeyed these orders, I found
the stranger seated at table--on which Aunt Hannah and Lily had spread
supper--talking cheerfully; and from what he said I gathered that he had
visited a number of outlying settlements, accompanied by several young
ministers, one of whom he had left at each.

"I had no one to bring on here, and was unwilling to leave you without
the `bread of life,' so I was fain to come on myself," he observed.

I wondered what he could mean. Aunt Hannah explained, after he and
Uncle Mark had gone out, that he was one of those energetic Gospellers
who had done so much for the back settlements of America; that he was an
overseer among them--his duty being to move from pl