hrist
and esteemed it equally a duty and a privilege to urge others to flee
from the wrath to come and accept the Gospel offer of salvation--men who
themselves had long before been influenced by the pale-face preacher to
whom Softswan had already referred. The seed had, in her case, fallen
into good ground, and had brought forth the fruit of an earnest desire
to show good-will to all with whom she had to do. It had also aroused
in her a hungering and thirsting for more knowledge of God and His ways.

It was natural, therefore, as she gazed on the splendid scene spread out
before her, that the thoughts of this child of the backwoods should rise
to contemplation of the Creator, and become less attentive to inferior
matters than circumstances required.

She was recalled suddenly to the danger of her position by the
appearance of a dark object, which seemed to crawl out of the bushes
below, just where the zigzag track entered them. At the first glance it
seemed to resemble a bear; a second and more attentive look suggested
that it might be a man. Whether bear or man, however, it was equally a
foe, at least so thought Softswan, and she raised one of the guns to her
shoulder with a promptitude that would have done credit to Big Tim
himself.

But she did not fire. The natural disinclination to shed blood
restrained her--fortunately, as it turned out,--for the crawling object,
on reaching the open ground, rose with apparent difficulty and staggered
forward a few paces in what seemed to be the form of a drunken man.
After one or two ineffectual efforts to ascend the track, the
unfortunate being fell and remained a motionless heap upon the ground.

CHAPTER SIX.

A STRANGE VISITOR.

Curious mingling of eagerness, hope, and fear rendered Softswan for some
minutes undecided how to act as she gazed at the fallen man. His garb
was of a dark uniform grey colour, which she had often heard described,
but had not seen until now. That he was wounded she felt quite sure,
but she knew that there would be great danger in descending to aid him.
Besides, if he were helpless, as he seemed to be, she had not physical
strength to lift him, and would expose herself to easy capture if the
Blackfeet should be in ambush.

Still, the eager and indefinable hope that was in her heart induced the
girl to rise with the intention of descending the path, when she
observed that the fallen man again moved. Rising on his hands and
knees, he