wooing of her faithful suitor Baptista
Leblanc, the notary's son, she only answered sadly: "I cannot, for
whither my heart has gone, there follows my hand." And in all her doings
she was upheld and cheered by her faithful friend, the priest Felician.
Wherever she went she asked for news of Gabriel, and at last she found
out that he and his father had become famous hunters, and had been met
with on one of the vast prairies, but she was never able to trace his
movements.

[Illustration]

Still she journeyed onward and onward till, one May, she joined a band
of Acadian exiles who were sailing in a cumbrous boat down the broad
river Mississippi. They were seeking for their kinsmen who, it was
rumored, had settled down as farmers in that fertile district. Day after
day the exiles glided down the river, and night after night they
encamped on its banks and slept by the blazing camp-fires which they
kindled. One night--if only Evangeline had known it--a boat rowed by
hunters and trappers, Gabriel among them, passed by close to their camp.
But the exiles' boat was hidden among the willows and they themselves
screened from sight by thick shrubs, so the hunters sped northward and
their passing was unheeded. Only when the sound of their oars had died
away, the maiden awoke and said to the priest: "Father Felician,
something tells me that Gabriel is near me. Chide me not for this
foolish fancy."

"Not far to the south," answered the faithful priest, "are the towns of
St. Maur and St. Martin, where many of our kinsfolk have settled. There
in that beautiful land, which its inhabitants call the Eden of
Louisiana, the bride shall surely be restored to her bridegroom."

Full of hope, the travelers continued their journey, and presently
arrived at a herdsman's house which stood in a lovely garden close to
the river. The owner himself, mounted on horseback, was watching his
numerous herds which were grazing in the meadows around him. As he
turned towards his house, he caught sight of the maiden and the priest
coming toward him. With a cry of joy he sprang from his saddle and
hastened towards them, and then the travelers saw that it was none other
than Basil the blacksmith. You can imagine how cordial were the
greetings, how numberless the questions and answers that passed between
them. Only Evangeline grew silent and thoughtful when Gabriel did not
appear, and at length Basil said, "If you came by way of the lakes, how
is it that you