ld the flowers. They are
beautiful, Mademoiselle. No nation has such hills and lakes and
flowers as the Iroquois. The Hurons boast of their lake country,--and
the Sacs and Foxes, too, though they have a duller eye for the
picturesque. See--the valley yonder--" He pointed through a rift in
the foliage to the league-long glimpse of green, bound in by the
gentle hills that rose beyond--"even to the tired old soldier there is
nothing more beautiful, more peaceful."

He peeled a long strip of bark from the birch tree, and rolled it into
a cup. "Your needle and thread, Mademoiselle,--if they have not taken
them."

"No; I have everything here."

She got her needle, and under his direction stitched the edges of the
bark.

"But it will leak, M'sieu."

He laughed. "The tree is the Indian's friend, Mademoiselle. Now it is
a pine tree that we need. The guards will tell me of one."

He walked over to the little group of warriors still at their game of
platter,--the one never-ceasing recreation of the Onondagas, at which
they would one day gamble away blankets, furs, homes, even squaws,
only to win them back on the next. They looked at him suspiciously
when he questioned them; but he was now as light of heart as on the
day, a few weeks earlier, when he had leaned on the balcony of the
citadel at Quebec, idly watching the river. He smiled at them, and
after a parley the maid saw one tall brave point to a tree a few yards
farther in the wood. They followed him closely with their eyes until
he was back within the space allowed him.

"Now, Mademoiselle, we can gum the seams,--see? It is so easy. The
cold water will harden it."

They went together to the spring and filled the cup, first drinking
each a draught. He rolled a large stone to the hut door, and set the
cup on it.

"Oh, Mademoiselle, it will not stand. I am not a good workman, I fear.
But then, it is not often in a woodsman's life that he keeps flowers
at his door. We must have some smaller stones to prop it up."

"I will get them, M'sieu." In spite of his protests she ran out to the
path and brought some pebbles. "Now we have decorated our home." She
sat upon the ground, leaning against the log wall, and smiling up at
him. "Sit down, M'sieu. I am tired of being solemn, we have been
solemn so long."

Already the heaviness was coming back on the Captain. He wondered, as
he looked at her, if she knew how serious their situation was. It
hardly seemed that she could