t last the
plague ceased, because winter stretched its wings out swiftly o'er the
plains from frigid ranges in the West. And then Pere Champagne fell ill
again.

And this last great sickness cured his madness: and he remembered whence
he had come, and what befell him at Diamond City so many moons ago. And
he prayed them, when he knew his time was come, that they would go to
Lonely Valley and tell his story to the woman whom he loved; and say
that he was going to a strange but pleasant Land, and that there he
would await her coming. He begged them that they would go at once, that
she might know, and not strain her eyes to blindness, and be sick at
heart because he came not. And he told them her name, and drew the
coverlet up about his head and seemed to sleep; but he waked between the
day and dark, and gently cried: "The snow is heavy on the mountain...
and the Valley is below.... 'Gardez, mon Pere!'... Ah, Nathalie!" And
they buried him between the dark and dawn.

Though winds were fierce, and travel full of peril, they kept their
word, and passed along wide steppes of snow, until they entered passes
of the mountains, and again into the plains; and at last one 'poudre'
day, when frost was shaking like shreds of faintest silver through the
air, Shon McGann's sight fled. But he would not turn back--a promise to
a dying man was sacred, and he could follow if he could not lead; and
there was still some pemmican, and there were martens in the woods, and
wandering deer that good spirits hunted into the way of the needy; and
Pierre's finger along the gun was sure.

Pierre did not tell Shon that for many days they travelled woods where
no sunshine entered; where no trail had ever been, nor foot of man had
trod: that they had lost their way. Nor did he make his comrade know
that one night he sat and played a game of solitaire to see if they
would ever reach the place called Lonely Valley. Before the cards were
dealt, he made a sign upon his breast and forehead. Three times he
played, and three times he counted victory; and before three suns had
come and gone, they climbed a hill that perched over Lonely Valley. And
of what they saw and their hearts felt we know.

And when they turned their faces eastward they were as men who go to
meet a final and a conquering enemy; but they had kept their honour with
the man upon whose grave-tree Shon McGann had carved beneath his name
these words:

"A Brother of Aaron."

Upo