leep. On awakening the
next morning, they found, to their amazement, that Oudin had escaped to
the forest. This was a great disappointment to them, after they had
taken so much care to keep him safe and tame him, as he gave promise of
much intelligence when he should become civilized. There was no help
for it, as he had evidently watched his opportunity to escape and,
perhaps, was now miles away.

"The ungrateful wretch," said Edward, "to thus run away after we had
done our best to civilize him."

"Good!" said the chief; "glad he is gone. He would kill us some day had
he remained."

"I think not," said Howe. "But it is a mystery to me how he escaped
your vigilant eye and ear. Whirlwind, I think you must have slept
during your watch."

"No," returned the chief, proudly, "Whirlwind never sleeps when on
guard. Whirlwind saw Oudin loose his bands, but kept still, and when he
stole softly away, did not pursue him."

"What! you saw and permitted his escape?" said the trapper, hurt at the
want of good faith in the chief.

"He pined for the forest even as I should pine in the white man's
village. What right had we to detain him in a place, and confine him to
a life for which he had no inclination? Let him go; he is free, and it
is all he craves."

"We had the right of the civilized over the savage. It was our place to
instruct and enlighten him, and we have done him a great wrong in
permitting him to return to the brutish life he led when we found him."

"Would he be happier when civilized, and had learned to curse the Great
Spirit, and drink the white man's fire water? Is the red man happier
than he was before the white man came?" asked the Indian, scornfully.

"You know, chief," said the trapper, "no one regrets the wrongs my race
have inflicted on your own more than I do. I hope there is a brighter
dawn in store for you, and that you may live to bless the coming of my
people to your shores."

"The dawn of a never-ending day in the spirit land awaits us--no other.
I give you my hand, brother; let there be peace between us," said the
chief, sadly.

The trapper grasped the offered hand in a moment, and after due
preparation, they once more pursued their journey, taking their way
directly across the prairie that stretched out before them. Their
horses were fleet travellers, and they hurried over the smooth, green
sward that covered the prairie, for two hours, when they were brought
to a sudden pause by stumbling o