d, the younger said: "Can I not
persuade you, father, even at this last moment, to change your mind and
accompany us? Poor Edith will be so dreadfully disappointed."

"I fear she will, Donald," returned Major Hester, with a sad smile,
"but as this life is mainly composed of disappointments, the sooner she
learns to bear them with composure, the better. I had indeed looked
forward to taking this journey with you, to clasping my dear girl in my
arms once more, and ere the year was ended to rebuilding Tawtry House,
in which to establish her as mistress. With the war ended, I fondly
hoped that a certain degree of happiness were still possible to me, and
looked forward to securing it by some such means as I have just
outlined."

"And is it not, father?" broke in the youth, eagerly. "Surely you have
done far more than your duty here, and--"

"No man has done that, Donald, so long as there remains an unperformed
task for which he is fitted," interrupted Major Hester, gravely. "So
long as I believe a crisis in Indian affairs to be imminent, and that
by remaining here I may be able to avert it, at least until the
reinforcements which it is now yours to hasten can arrive, it is
clearly my duty to stay. So off with you, lad. Don't run any risks
that can just as well be avoided, and don't try to avoid any that, if
successfully taken, will serve to speed your errand. Farewell, my son.
May God bless you and keep you and bring your enterprise to a happy
termination."

After the canoe had departed, Major Hester ascended one of the water
bastions, where he watched it until it became a tiny speck, and finally
vanished behind the projecting land then known as Montreal point.

Donald Hester had striven so manfully with his studies that he was
finally graduated from King's College, well toward the head of his
class, during the previous summer. Thereupon he had been rewarded with
his heart's desire, an ensign's commission in the Royal Americans. To
the new and fascinating duties of his chosen profession he at once
devoted himself with such ardor as to draw favorable comment from his
superiors. After serving at several posts he had, to his great
delight, been transferred to Detroit, where the soldier father and
soldier son, each more than proud of the other, were joyfully reunited
after their years of separation. Here, too, he renewed his boyhood's
intimacy with forest life, and eagerly resumed his long-neglected
studies in