e felling
axe. Neither did the unceasing work of the buck-saw, as it ploughed its
way through an endless stream of sapling trunks, afford him anything
beyond the joy of lending his assistance. Then, too, the morning survey
of the elemental prospect, when his elders searched the skies, fearing
and hoping, and grimly accepting that which the fates decreed, was only
one amongst his many joys. It was all a great and fascinating game, full
of interest and excitement for a budding capacity which Steve was quick
to recognize.

But the child's greatest delight was the moment when "Uncle Steve"
invited him to assist him in discovering the economic resources of his
own home. As the examination proceeded Steve learned many things which
could never have reached him through any other source. He obtained a
peep into the lives of these people through the intimate eyes of the
child, and his keen perception read through the tumbling, eager words to
the great truths of which the child was wholly unaware. And it was a
story which left him with the profoundest admiration and pity for the
dead man who was the genius of it all.

Not for one moment did Steve permit a shadow to cross the child's sunny,
smiling face. From the first moment when the responsibility for Marcel's
little life had fallen into his hands his mind was made up. By every
artifice the boy must be kept from all knowledge of the tragedy that
had befallen him. When he asked for his mother he was told that she was
so sick that she could not be worried. This was during the first two
days. After that he was told that she had gone away. She had gone away
to meet his father, and that when she came back she would bring his
"pop" with her. A few added details of a fictitious nature completely
satisfied, and the child accepted without question that which his hero
told him.

He was permitted to see nothing of the little silent cortege that left
the post late on the second night. He saw nothing of the grief-laden
eyes of An-ina as she followed the three men bearing their burden of the
dead mother, enclosed in a coffin made out of the packing cases with
which the fort was so abundantly supplied. He had seen the men digging
in the forest earlier in the day, and had been more than satisfied when
"Uncle Steve" assured him they were digging a well. Later on he would
discover the great beacon of stones which marked the "well." But, for
the moment, while the curtain was being rung down on t