ERRUPTION--
OVERTAKEN BY THE SNOW--A TRYING DAY'S MARCH--WE ARE AT LENGTH ABLE TO
CAMP--STRONG INCLINATION TO SLEEP--BOXER KEEPS WATCH--THE RED-SKINS
NEAR--OUR HORSES AND RIFLES STOLEN--WE SUFFER FROM HUNGER--WE CONTINUE
OUR WAY ON FOOT--SLEEP IN A HOLLOW TREE--PURSUED BY WOLVES--WE KILL ONE
OF THE PACK--SAVED BY OUR DOG AND A BUFFALO CARCASE--WORN OUT--CAMP.

Hitherto our community had enjoyed the most uninterrupted good health,
no accidents had even occurred requiring more surgical skill than my
father or uncle were able to afford. In this we were especially
fortunate, for we knew of no doctor nearer than Fort Hamilton, and we
could scarcely expect him to come in any ordinary case of illness. At
length our dear mother began to ail, and her pale cheek and sunken eye
showed that she was suffering greatly. One evening, towards the end of
the year, the trees being already stripped of their leaves, Lily came to
me.

"Our dear mother is, I fear, very, very ill," she said; "I don't think
that your father is aware how serious her case is, and unless we can get
a doctor to prescribe for her, I am afraid that she will die. I should
be sorry to frighten you unnecessarily, Mike, but I am sure it is of the
greatest importance that a medical man should see her without delay."

"I am ready to set off this moment, and I will endeavour to bring back a
doctor at all costs," I answered.

"Do go, Mike," she said; "and yet I fear that you may encounter dangers
on the way, the journey is long, and the Indians are less peaceably
disposed, it is reported, than they have been of late, but I pray that
God will protect you, and I am sure that He will, when you are
performing an act of duty."

"Neither difficulties nor dangers shall prevent me from going, and I
feel as you do, that it is most important our mother should have medical
assistance. I am the fittest person to go, and I shall have no fears,
knowing that you, dear Lily, are praying for me."

"Remember too, Mike, that God will hear my prayers, and grant them too,
as He has promised," exclaimed Lily; "what an encouragement it is to
know that He does hear faithful prayer, and never fails to attend to
it."

As may be supposed, this was not the whole of our conversation. When my
father came in, I broke the subject to him; not wishing to alarm him
more than necessary about my mother's health, at the same time anxious
to obtain his permission for going. He at first hesitated, a