n energy and watchfulness.

As he hurried round and round, he praised those who were most on the
alert, and warned the others of the dangers of negligence. He more than
once went down to examine his watch, and ascertain how the time was
passing, for of course no lights were shown on the ramparts, and then
again he hurried up to look over the prairie.

At length a bright streak appeared across the eastern sky. The light
increased, and it was with a sigh of heart-felt relief, when at last,
being able to see across the prairie, he discovered that not a single
object was moving over its broad expanse.

"It is as I thought, then," he said to himself; "the Blackfeet have
deemed it prudent not to show themselves until they can catch us off our
guard. We shall have, I trust, a day's rest, and by the evening my boys
and their brave friends will have returned; and even should poor Keith
have met with disaster, Burnett may send us reinforcements from
Edmonton. I pray that the savages have not paid a visit to Harvey's
station, or it may have gone hard with him. Now I may go down and
console Mrs Mackintosh and the girls, and get some breakfast;" and the
gallant Captain, having again charged the sentries to keep on the alert,
returned to his house.

The day wore on, and had it not been for Jacques Robe's positive
assertion that he had escaped from an unusually large body of Blackfeet,
it might have been supposed that there was no cause for alarm.

Not even a buffalo or deer appeared. That, however, was not unusual;
indeed, the only cause to create suspicion was that no traders, either
Indians or others, arrived at the fort.

Noon had passed, and had Jules Buffet ridden as fast as he proposed,
Loraine and his companions might soon return. Still they did not
appear.

Sybil and Effie frequently went to the southern platform to look out,
but returned each time disappointed.

Captain Mackintosh, who had gone to the top of the look-out tower, swept
with his telescope the horizon to the south and west, towards which the
glowing sun was once more sinking.

As he looked, he fancied that he could detect objects moving above the
tall grass, embrowned with the tints of autumn. If they were Indians
they probably did not suppose that they could be discovered at so great
a distance. They might, indeed, have been only a herd of deer
scampering across the plain. Still, as he looked again and again
through his glass, he fancied th