of her children had been taken from her, and Jeanie alone had
been left. Famine, and the small-pox and measles, which has proved so
fatal to the inhabitants of those northern wilds, had on several
occasions visited the fort, which had also been exposed to the attacks
of treacherous and hostile natives; while for years together she had not
enjoyed the society of any of her own sex of like cultivated mind and
taste. Yet she did not repine; she devoted herself to her husband and
child, and to imparting instruction to the native women and children who
inhabited the fort. She went further, and endeavoured to spread the
blessings of religion and civilisation among the surrounding Indian
population. By her influence her husband had been induced to take an
interest in the welfare of the Indians, and no longer merely to value
them according to the supply of peltries they could bring to trade with
at the fort. He endeavoured also to instruct them in the art of
agriculture, and already a number of cultivated fields were to be seen
in the neighbourhood. He had introduced herds of cattle, which the
Indians had been taught to tend and value, and numerous horses fed on
the surrounding pastures. His great object now was to obtain a resident
missionary, who might instruct the still heathen natives in the truths
of Christianity; for when he had learned to value the importance of his
own soul, he of necessity felt deeply interested in the salvation of the
souls of his surrounding fellow-creatures. He had been warned that,
should the natives become Christians and civilised, they would no longer
prove useful as hunters and trappers, and that he was acting in
opposition to trade.

"When that occurs it will be time enough, if you think fit, to complain,
my friends," he answered. "At present I see innumerable immortal souls
perishing in their darkness; and am I to be debarred, for fear of future
consequences, in offering to them the blessings of the gospel?"

Most of those to whom he spoke were unable to comprehend him, but he
persevered; and as the native trappers, certain of being fairly dealt
with, resorted in greater numbers than before to the fort, and the
amount of peltries he collected not falling off, no objection was taken
at headquarters to his proceedings.

CHAPTER FOUR.

DANGERS IN THE FORT--THE WINTER SETS IN--SCARCITY OF FOOD--MR. RAMSAY'S
ACCOUNT OF HIS FIRST MEETING WITH THE OLD TRAPPER--HIS JOURNEY ACROSS
THE