crept forward a few paces, and then stopped. Suddenly by a
great effort, he raised himself to a kneeling position, clasped his
hands, and looked up.

The act sufficed to decide the wavering girl. Leaping lightly over the
breastwork, she ran swiftly down until she reached the man, who gazed at
her in open-mouthed astonishment. He was a white man, and the ghastly
pallor of his face, with a few spots of blood on it and on his hands,
told that he had been severely wounded.

"Manitou seems to have sent an angel of light to me in my extremity," he
gasped in the Indian tongue.

"Come; me vill help you," answered Softswan, in her broken English, as
she stooped and assisted him to rise.

No other word was uttered, for even with the girl's assistance it was
with the utmost difficulty that the man reached the breastwork of the
hut, and when he had succeeded in clambering over it, he lay down and
fainted.

After Softswan had glanced anxiously in the direction of the forest, and
placed one of the guns in a handy position, she proceeded to examine the
wounded stranger. Being expert in such matters, she opened his vest,
and quickly found a wound near the region of the heart. It was bleeding
steadily though not profusely. To stanch this and bind it up was the
work of a few minutes. Then she reclosed the vest. In doing so she
found something hard in a pocket near the wound. It was a little book,
which she gently removed as it might interfere with the bandage. In
doing so she observed that the book had been struck by the bullet which
it deflected, so as to cause a more deadly wound than might otherwise
have been inflicted.

She was thus engaged when the patient recovered consciousness, and,
seizing her wrist, exclaimed, "Take not the Word from me. It has been
my joy and comfort in all my--"

He stopped on observing who it was that touched his treasure.

"Nay, then," he continued, with a faint smile, as he released his hold;
"it can come to no harm in thy keeping, child. For an instant I thought
that rougher hands had seized it. But why remove it?"

Softswan explained, but, seeing how eager the man was to keep it, she at
once returned the little Bible to the inner pocket in which it was
carried when not in use. Then running into the hut she quickly returned
with a rib of venison and a tin mug of water.

The man declined the food, but drained the mug with an air of
satisfaction, which showed how much he stood in