powder and ball, not the life of the boy;
and recollect if we had not been so careless as to tempt him with the
sight of what he values so much, he never would have annoyed us thus."

"That is true; well then, Malachi, it shall be as you propose in every
thing."

The conversation was here finished; Alfred and all those who were
possessed of the secret never allowed the slightest hint to drop of
their knowledge. The winter passed away without interruption of any
kind. Before the snow had disappeared the seed was all prepared ready
for sowing; the planks had been sawed out, and all the wheat not
required for seed had been ground down and put into flour-barrels, ready
for any further demand from the fort. And thus terminated the third
winter in Canada.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

It was now April, and for some days Malachi and John had been very busy,
assisted by the Strawberry; for the time had come for tapping the
maple-trees, to make the maple-sugar, and Mrs. Campbell had expressed a
wish that she could be so supplied with an article of such general
consumption, and which they could not obtain but by the _bateaux_ which
went to Montreal. In the evening, when Malachi and John were, as usual,
employed in cutting small trays out of the soft wood of the balsam-fir,
and of which they had already prepared a large quantity, Mrs. Campbell
asked Malachi how the sugar was procured.

"Very easily, ma'am: we tap the trees."

"Yes, so you said before; but how do you do it? Explain the whole affair
to me."

"Why, ma'am, we pick out the maple trees which are about a foot wide at
the bottom of the trunk, as they yield most sugar. We then bore a hole
in the trunk of the tree, about two feet above the ground, and into that
hole we put a hollow reed, just the same as you would put a spigot in a
cask. The liquor runs out into one of these trays that we have been
digging out."

"Well, and then what do you do?"

"We collect all the liquor every morning till we have enough to fill the
coppers, and then we boil it down."

"What coppers will you use, then?"

"There are two large coppers in the store-room, not yet put up, which
will answer our purpose very well, ma'am. They hold about a hogshead
each. We shall take them into the woods with us, and pour the liquor
into them, and boil them down as soon as they are ready. You must come
and see us on the boiling-day, and we can have a frolic in the woods."

"With all my heart," replie