d escaped.

"No, my daughter, not the sea; la Grande Riviere, the St. Lawrence!"
said le pere Jean, almost reverently. "Do you wonder these poor
Indians worship it?"

"Oh, it is blessed! blessed! It means home! It is like to heaven!"
I whispered, and then I fell a-crying with very happiness.

Presently Lucy touched me on the shoulder. "See! there is Andre!"
And below we saw the Indian paddling out into the open. He went
cutting through the golden water until he was some distance from
the shore, when he stood upright, gently rocking as he balanced,
gazing up the river. Suddenly he crouched down, again and made all
haste towards us, crying, as he came within call: "Mon pere! Dufour!
Dufour! Gabriel Dufour!"

"This is fortunate, most fortunate," exclaimed the priest. "It will
save us many a weary mile, and perhaps weeks of waiting. Gabriel
is a pilot, with one of the best boats on the river, and your way
to Quebec is now easy. It could not have fallen out better."

"'One of those disarrangements we name Accident,' mon pere?" I
said.

"No, my daughter; when we are schooled sufficiently to read aright,
we name it 'Providence,'" he returned, gravely.

We took our places in the canoe once more, and with deep, long
strokes she was forced through the current across the mouth of the
stream. We disembarked on the farther side, and all made our way
out to the end of the low point, which stretched far into the wide
river. My disappointment was great when I could make out nothing
of the object to which Andre triumphantly pointed, but this the
priest pronounced, without hesitation, to be the pilot's boat.

"Andre, dry wood," he commanded; and to us he added, "You can help,
if you will."

We ran back to where a fringe of bleached drift-wood marked the
line of the highest tides, and returned with our arms laden with
the dry, tindery stuff. Carefully selecting the smallest pieces,
the Indian skilfully built a little pile, but so small I wondered
at his purpose. The priest, kneeling by it, soon had it alight,
and kept adding to it constantly, while Andre ran off again to
return with a supply of green brush; by this time a heap of glowing
coals was ready, and on this the Indian carefully laid his green
branches, one after another. In a few minutes a strong, thick smoke
arose, and went curling out in a long thin line over the now quiet
waters of the river.

Meantime le pere Jean had a second pile of wood in readiness, and
at