nt conversation with the stranger, who talked
to them cheerfully. He did not, however, fail to dwell much on the
goodness of God in their preservation; nor did he omit to urge on them
to read, on their return home, the first two verses of the forty-sixth
Psalm, which he said might dispose them to look upwards with
thankfulness and confidence. Austin and Brian left the stranger, truly
grateful for the kindness which had been shown them; and the former
felt determined it should not be his fault, if he did not, before
long, make another visit to the place.

When the boys arrived at home, they related, in glowing colours, and
with breathless haste, the adventure which had befallen them. Brian
dwelt on the black clouds, the vivid lightning, and the rolling
thunder; while Austin described, with startling effect, the sudden cry
which had arrested their steps near the narrow path, and the dreadful
crash of the red sand-stone rock, when it broke over the precipice,
with the big oak-tree that grew above it. "Had we not been stopped by
the cry," said he, "we must in another minute have been dashed to
pieces." He then, after recounting how kind the stranger had been to
them, entered on the subject of the Indian weapons.

Though the stranger who had rendered the boys so important a service
was dressed like a common farmer, there was that in his manner so
superior to the station he occupied, that Austin, being ardent and
somewhat romantic in his notions, and wrought upon by the Indian
weapons and dresses he had seen, thought he must be some important
person in disguise. This belief he intimated with considerable
confidence, and assigned several good reasons in support of his
opinion.

Brian reminded Austin of the two verses they were to read; and, when
the Bible was produced, he read aloud, "God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear,
though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into
the midst of the sea."

"Ah," said Austin, "we had, indeed, a narrow escape; for if the
mountains were not carried into the sea, the rock fell almost into the
river."

On the morrow, Mr. Edwards was early on his way, to offer his best
thanks, with those of Mrs. Edwards, to the stranger who had saved the
lives of his children. He met him at the door, and in an interview of
half an hour Mr. Edwards learned that the stranger was the son of a
fur trader; and that, after the death of h