lks would like to be wid me."

"My son, you and I are the best of friends; you surely have no misgiving
regarding me; my name is Finley."

And, with this remark, he stepped over the gunwale and cordially shook
the hand of Jethro, who was won by his looks and manner. He helped
fasten the canoe at the side of the flatboat, and invited the visitor to
seat himself upon the remaining sheets at the stern, an invitation that
was so agreeably accepted that Jethro was certain he had never met so
delightful a gentleman.

There may be some among my readers who have recognized the name of the
man who paddled out in the canoe as among the most honored in the early
history of the West. He was James B. Finley, the famous missionary,
whose career is one of the brightest pages among the many stained by
cruelty, vice and crime. For years he carried his life in his hands,
traversing the vast stretches of wilderness with rifle over his
shoulder, living on the game brought down by his own marksmanship, or
what he could obtain in the lodges of the red men or the cabins of the
pioneers. He slept in the woods, freezing by the lonely campfire, or
sweltering in the smothering heat of the summer sun.

And wherever this devoted man went, he carried the message of his
Master. He labored unceasingly in His vineyard, illustrating precept by
his own example, and winning many to the right way, not only among the
rough bordermen, but from among the fierce warriors themselves.

Without turning aside in this place to refer more fully to Rev. Mr.
Finley, the interesting fact should be recalled that it was under his
exhortation that Simon Kenton, years subsequent to the events we are now
recording, professed conversion, and became a deeply devout man.

The missionary showed his tact by making no reference to the tremendous
falsehood he had just brought home to Jethro Juggens.

Laying his hand in a fatherly way upon the shoulder of the youth, he
remarked:

"You will believe me, my son, when I tell you I am surprised."

"Yes, I offen s'prise folks."

"What is your name, please?"

Jethro answered all his questions truthfully and respectfully, so that
in a few minutes the gentleman gained a fair understanding of the
incidents in which the colored youth had been involved during the past
few days, and which placed him in his present extraordinary situation.

"I have seen a great many flatboats pass down the river," remarked Mr.
Finley, at the close