le of snow. Close to the house, and in sight of the front
windows, was a small lake or pond, by the side of which rose an abrupt
precipice of about fifty feet in height. Beyond this, a little to the
right, lay the undulating fields of the settlement, dotted with clumps
of trees and clusters of cottages.

"Most beautiful!" exclaimed the fur-trader, "but why named Loch Dhu,
which, if I mistake not, is the Gaelic for Black Lake?"

"Because that little pond," answered the surveyor, "when freed from its
wintry coat, looks dark and deep even at mid-day, under the shadow of
that beetling cliff."

"Truly, I like it well," said Redding, as he turned again to look at the
cottage, "are you its architect?"

"I am," answered Mr Gambart, "but a greater mind than mine guided my
pencil in the process of its creation."

"Indeed! and what is the objection to it that you spoke of?"

"That," replied the surveyor, with a mysterious look, "I must, on second
thoughts, decline to tell you."

"How, then, can you expect me to buy the place?" demanded Redding, in
surprise.

"Why, because I, a disinterested friend, strongly recommend you to do
so. You believe in me. Well, I tell you that there is no objection to
the place but one, and that one won't prove to be an objection in the
long run, though it is one just now. The price is, as you know,
ridiculously small, first, because the family who owned it have been
compelled by reverses of fortune to part with it, and are in urgent need
of ready cash; and, secondly, because few people have yet found out the
beauties of this paradise, which will one day become a very important
district of Canada."

"Humph, well, I believe in your friendship, and to some extent in your
wisdom, though I doubt your capacity to prophesy," said Redding.
"However, if you won't tell me the objection, I must rest content.
To-morrow we will look at it in daylight, and if I then see no
objections to it myself, I'll buy it."

The morrow came. In the blaze of the orb of day Loch Dhu looked more
beautiful than it did by moonlight. After a thorough examination of
house and grounds, the fur-trader resolved to purchase it, and
commissioned his plump little friend to carry out the transaction.
Thereafter he and his man retraced their steps to the wilderness, still
breathing unutterable things against the entire clan of McLeod.

CHAPTER FOUR.

PIONEERING.

We turn now to "the enemy"--the McLeods. The father