vision; but she rather manifested the quality of
impatience, than any feeling of alarm.

A short bark from the dog, however, soon gave a new direction to the
looks of both, and then the real object of his second warning became
dimly visible.

CHAPTER III

Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood, as any in Italy;
and as soon mov'd to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.
--Romeo and Juliet.

Though the trapper manifested some surprise when he perceived that
another human figure was approaching him, and that, too, from a
direction opposite to the place where the emigrant had made his
encampment, it was with the steadiness of one long accustomed to scenes
of danger.

"This is a man," he said; "and one who has white blood in his veins, or
his step would be lighter. It will be well to be ready for the worst, as
the half-and-halfs,[*] that one meets, in these distant districts, are
altogether more barbarous than the real savage."

[*] Half-breeds; men born of Indian women by white fathers. This race
has much of the depravity of civilisation without the virtues of
the savage.

He raised his rifle while he spoke, and assured himself of the state of
its flint, as well as of the priming by manual examination. But his arm
was arrested, while in the act of throwing forward the muzzle of the
piece, by the eager and trembling hands of his companion.

"For God's sake, be not too hasty," she said; "it may be a friend--an
acquaintance--a neighbour!"

"A friend!" the old man repeated, deliberately releasing himself, at the
same time, from her grasp. "Friends are rare in any land, and less in
this, perhaps, than in another; and the neighbourhood is too thinly
settled to make it likely that he who comes towards us is even an
acquaintance."

"But though a stranger, you would not seek his blood!"

The trapper earnestly regarded her anxious and frightened features,
and then he dropped the butt of his rifle on the ground, like one whose
purpose had undergone a sudden change.

"No," he said, speaking rather to himself, than to his companion, "she
is right; blood is not to be spilt, to save the life of one so useless,
and so near his time. Let him come on; my skins, my traps, and even my
rifle shall be his, if he sees fit to demand them."

"He will ask for neither:--he wants neither," returned the girl; "if he
be an honest man, he will surely be cont