pie,
the tin dish of which, (repaired expressly for the occasion that
afternoon by the Fort blacksmith), might have served for a bath to an
average baby. The carpenter arranged the hall, or large public room,
cleared away the tables, fitted up a device in evergreens which was
supposed to represent the words _Loo_ and _Reu_, and otherwise garnished
the ball-room with specimens of his originality and taste, while old
Fiddlestrings, who was a self-taught half-breed, fitted to his violin a
new string made by his wife that day from a deer-sinew.

When the hour arrived for the performance of the ceremony, Reuben Dale
appeared among the men of the Fort, dressed, not like a gentleman in
broadcloth, but, in hunter's costume of the most approved cut and
material--a yellow deerskin coat, ornamented with bead and quill work;
blue cloth leggings, a small fur cap, moccasins garnished with silk
flowers, fitting as tight to his feet as gloves fit the hands, and a
crimson worsted sash round his waist. He also wore, slung on his
shoulder by scarlet worsted cords, a powder-horn and shot-pouch--not
that these implements of the chase were necessary to the occasion, but
because he would as soon have thought of appearing at any time without
them as without his nose. For the same reason his rifle accompanied him
to the wedding.

A short time before the appointed hour the bride-elect adorned herself
in simple yet tasteful costume, which, being peculiar to no particular
nation or time, we prefer to leave to the reader's imagination, merely
remarking that as Loo was simple and pretty her garb corresponded to her
appearance and character.

But the appointed hour passed, and the Reverend William Tucker did not
appear. Hunters of the Rocky Mountains, however, are not an impatient
race. Reuben quietly waited as he would have done for a good shot at
game. Not so The MacFearsome. His Celtic blood fired, and he muttered
a few uncomplimentary remarks about the reverend absentee, which it is
well not to repeat.

As time passed, however, the dwellers in Mac's Fort became anxious, then
alarmed, and finally the wedding was postponed, while a search for the
lost one was organised; but they searched in vain, because tracks which
might easily be traced in the wilderness get inextricably mixed up in
the vicinity of a fort.

Next day Kenneth MacFearsome, coming rather hastily and angrily to the
conclusion that Mr Tucker had given them the slip and g