drop of liquor,
sick or well, living or dying, so help me God! and there's my hand on
it."

"Amen!" exclaimed the Trapper, as he sprang to his feet, and clasped
in his own strong palm the hand that the other had stretched out to
him. "The Lord in His marcy be nigh ye when tempted, Bill, and keep ye
true to yer pledge!"

Of all the pleasant sights that the angels of God, looking from their
high homes, saw on earth that Christmas Eve, perhaps not one was
dearer in their eyes than the spectacle here described,--the two
sturdy men standing with their hands clasped in solemn pledge of the
reformation of the one, and the helping sympathy of the other, above
that Christmas box in the cabin in the woods.

It is not necessary to follow in detail the Trapper's further
examination of the box. The reader's imagination, assisted by many a
happy reminiscence, will enable him to realize the scene. There was a
small keg of powder, a large plug of lead, a little chest of tea, a
bag of sugar, and also one of coffee. There were nails, matches,
thread, buttons, a woolen under-jacket, a pair of mittens, and a cap
of choicest fur, made of an otter's skin that Henry himself had
trapped a year before. All these and other packages were taken out one
by one, carefully examined, and characteristically commented on by the
Trapper, and passed to Wild Bill, who in turn inspected and commented
on them, and then laid them carefully on the table. Beneath these
packages was a thin board, constituting a sort of division between its
upper and lower half.

"There seems to be a sort of cellar to this box," said the Trapper, as
he sat looking at the division. "I shouldn't be surprised ef the boy
himself was in here somewhere, so be ready, Bill, fur anything, fur
the Lord only knows what's underneath this board." Saying which, the
old man thrust his hand under one end of the division, and pulled out
a bundle loosely tied with a string, which became unfastened as the
Trapper lifted the roll from its place in the box, and, as he shook it
open, and held its contents at arm's length up to the light, the
startled eyes of Wild Bill, and the earnest gaze of the Trapper,
beheld a woman's dress!

"Heavens and 'arth, Bill!" exclaimed the Trapper, "what's this?" And
then a flash of light crossed his face, in the illumination of which
the look of wonder vanished, and, dropping upon his knees, he flung
the dividing board out of the box, and his companion and himse