ntly mixed up with scenes of war and bloodshed. In truth,
my mission on earth is to teach those principles which, if universally
acted on, would put an end to both;--perhaps I should have said, my
mission is to point men to that Saviour who is an embodiment of the
principles of Love and Peace and Goodwill."

For a few seconds the young hunter sat on the floor of the cave in
silence, with his hands clasped round his knees, and his eyes cast down
as if in meditation. At last a smile played on his features, and he
looked at his questioner with a humorous twinkle in his eyes.

"Well, my white father," he said, "I see no reason why I should not
explain the matter to my daddy's old friend; but I'll have to say my say
smartly, for by the stamping and yells o' the rep--o' the Blackfeet
overhead, I perceive that they've got hold o' my case-bottle o' rum, an'
if I don't stop them they'll pull the old hut down about their ears.

"Well, you must know that my daddy left the settlements in his young
days," continued Big Tim, "an' took to a rovin' life on the prairies an'
mountains, but p'r'aps he told you that long ago. No? Well, he served
for some time at a queer sort o' trade--the makin' o' fireworks; them
rediklous things they call squibs, crackers, rockets, an' Roman candles,
with which the foolish folk o' the settlements blow their money into
smoke for the sake o' ticklin' their fancies for a few minutes.

"Well, when he came here, of course he had no use for sitch
tomfooleries, but once or twice, when he wanted to astonish the natives,
he got hold o' some 'pothicary's stuff an' wi' gunpowder an' charcoal
concocted some things that well-nigh drove the red men out o' their
senses, an' got daddy to be regarded as a great medicine-man. Of course
he kep' it secret how he produced the surprisin' fires--an', to say
truth, I think from my own experience that if he had tried to explain it
to 'em they could have made neither head nor tail o't. For a long time
arter that he did nothin' more in that way, till one time when the
Blackfeet came an' catched daddy an' me nappin' in this very hut and we
barely got off wi' the scalps on our heads by scrambling down the
precipice where the reptiles didn't like to follow. When they left the
place they took all our odds an' ends wi' them, an' set fire to the hut.
Arter they was gone we set to work an' built a noo hut. Then daddy--
who's got an amazin' turn for inventin' things--set to work