step of a trained
runner whose heart is in his work; but the way was long, and as evening
advanced even his superior powers began to fail a little. Still he held
on, greatly overtaxing his strength. Nothing could have been more
injudicious in a prolonged race. He began to suspect that it was
unwise, when he came to a stretch of broken ground, which in the
distance was traversed by a range of low hills. As he reached these he
reduced the pace a little, but while he was clambering up the face of a
rather precipitous cliff, the thought of the Blackfoot band and of the
much-loved one came into his mind; prudence went to the winds, and in a
moment he was on the summit of the cliff, panting vehemently--so much
so, indeed, that he felt it absolutely necessary to sit down for a few
moments to rest.

While resting thus, with his back against a rock, in the attitude of one
utterly worn out, part of the missionary's text flashed into his mind:
"the race that is set before us."

"Surely," he murmured, looking up, "this race is set before me. The
object is good. It is my duty as well as my desire."

The thought gave an impulse to his feelings; the impulse sent his young
blood careering, and, springing up, he continued to run as if the race
had only just begun. But ere long the pace again began to tell,
producing a sinking of the heart, which tended to increase the evil.
Hour after hour had passed without his making any perceptible abatement
in the pace, and the night was now closing in. This however mattered
not, for the full moon was sailing in a clear sky, ready to relieve
guard with the sun. Again the thought recurred that he acted unwisely
in thus pressing on beyond his powers, and once more he stopped and sat
down.

This time the text could not be said to flash into his mind, for while
running, it had never left him. He now deliberately set himself to
consider it, and the word "patience" arrested his attention.

"Let us run with patience," he thought. "I have not been patient. But
the white man did not mean this kind of race at all; he said it was the
whole race of life. Well, if so, _this_ is part of that race, and it
_is_ set before me. Patience! patience! I will try."

With childlike simplicity the red man rose and began to run slowly. For
some time he kept it up, but as his mind reverted to the object of his
race his patience began to ooze out. He could calculate pretty well the
rate at which the Bla