the
blackest desolation conceivable. The population were all astir.
Mrs. Randolf had arrived safely, and Mr. Currie was about to set
forth in search of my roasted remains, when they perceived the
signals of distress that we were making, after Randolf had done
gallant battle with the bear in defence of the old cow. He is a
first-rate hunter, and despatched the fellow with such little aid as
I could give, with a leg not fit to stand upon; and when the canoes
came off to fetch us, he would not leave the place till he had
skinned the beast. My leg is unserviceable at present, and all my
bones feel the effect of the night in the swamp, so I am to lay by,
make the drawings, and draw up the report, while Mr. Currie and
Randolf do my work over again, all my marks having been effaced by
his majesty the Fire King, and the clearing done to our hand. If I
could only get rid of the intolerable parching and thirst, and the
burning of my brains! I should not wonder if I were in for a touch
of swamp fever.'

Here Owen's letter broke off; and Honor begged in alarm for what Robert
evidently had in reserve. He had received this letter to her enclosed in
one from Mr. Currie, desiring him to inform poor young Sandbrook's
friends of his state. By his account, Owen's delay and surrender of his
horse had been an act of gallant self-devotion, placing him in
frightfully imminent danger, whence only the cool readiness of young
Randolf had brought him off, apparently with but slight hurts from the
fall of the tree, and exposure to the night air of the heated swamp. He
had been left at Lakeville in full confidence of restoration after a
week's rest, but on returning from Lake Superior, Mr. Currie found him
insensible, under what was at first taken for an aggravated access of the
local fever, until, as consciousness returned, it became evident that the
limbs on the left side were powerless. Between a litter and water
transport, the sufferer was conveyed to Montreal, where the evil was
traced to concussion of the brain from the blow from the tree, the more
dangerous because unfelt at first, and increased by application to
business. The injury of the head had deprived the limbs of motion and
sensation, and the medical men thought the case hopeless, though likely
to linger through many stages of feebleness of mind and body. Under
these circumstances, Mr. Currie, being obliged to