d, nor
altogether debased. Occasionally yearnings for a different life to that
he led rose in his bosom. Whence they came he could not tell. Still he
could not help thinking that there might be a brighter and better state
of existence in those far-off lands away beyond where he saw the
glorious sun rise each morning, to run its course through the sky, and
to sink again behind the snow-capped range of the Rocky Mountains, to
the base of which he and his father had occasionally wandered. Whenever
he had ventured even to hint the tenor of his thoughts to the old
trapper, the scornful rebuke he had received kept him for many a day
afterwards silent.

As evening approached, the old man made a wide circuit round the camp to
ascertain that no lurking foes lay hid in the neighbourhood. Having
satisfied himself on that score, a large supply of fuel was piled up on
the fire, when, after a frugal supper, he and the boy lay down to rest.
Although Laurence slept soundly, Michael awoke constantly to put more
wood on the fire, and not unfrequently to take a survey around the
wigwam, knowing well that their lives might depend on his vigilance.

No sooner did the first faint streaks of dawn appear in the sky than he
aroused the boy. A hurried meal was eaten, and then they strapped on
their packs and several bundles of furs, which, with their traps, Moggs
intended to conceal till he could return for them. The remaining
articles, and a few of the least valuable of their furs, were then
thrown on the fire, and the wigwam being pulled down on the top of it,
the whole mass of combustible material soon burst up into a flame,
leaving in a short time no other trace of their abode on the spot than a
pile of blackened cinders.

They then made their way by a wide circuit into a neighbouring wood,
beyond which a rocky hill afforded, in the old trapper's opinion, a
secure place for concealing their goods. The old man stepped cautiously
along, avoiding even brushing against any of the branches on either
side, Laurence following in his footsteps.

A small cave or hollow, which he had before observed, was soon found.
In this the articles were deposited, and the mouth was closed up with
stones brought from the hill-side, they again being concealed by a pile
of broken branches and leaves, which, to the eye of a passer-by, might
appear to have been blown there by the wind.

"It is the best place we can find," exclaimed Moggs. "But if a stran