iver, where,
not finding his canoe, he expressed the most bitter disappointment.

Sandy at length comforted him with the assurance that he would take him
by a safer route to some white people, who would endeavour to discover
the friends of whom he was in search.

"More than this I was unable to learn," observed Sandy; "but it's vera
clear that the boy was kidnapped by the redskins sometime or other,
though not long enough ago to make him forget his relatives and friends.
At the same time, not having spoken a word of English for three or four
years, or perhaps more, he finds it almost impossible to express what he
wishes to say."

We all agreed that it would be better to let the young stranger become
accustomed to us before we questioned him about his history. If then he
had ever, as Sandy suspected, spoken English, he would probably
recollect it. At present we had great difficulty in communicating with
him, as he was chiefly accustomed to speak the language of the Sioux,
with which we were unacquainted.

Rose and Letty volunteered to take him in hand. "We shall soon find out
all about him, if he has got a tongue in his head," said Rose, laughing;
"he will trust us more readily than he will you boys, and I am very sure
that we shall soon become friends."

No event of importance occurred for some time at the fort. Our hunters
went out, and were successful in killing several buffalo, which gave us
an ample supply of meat for the winter.

The frost had now set in, not to break up for several months, and snow
covered the face of nature. When not engaged in our duties, we boys and
girls amused ourselves by tobogganing, the sloping bank of the river
affording us a capital place for sliding down. We each of us had
manufactured a toboggan, which is a small sleigh composed of a long thin
slip of willow wood turned up in front. Several of ours were large
enough to carry two, and we each of us were eager to obtain the company
of one of the young ladies, I especially that of Letty.

I sat at the extreme after-end of the toboggan to steer it with my feet,
while Letty sat just in front of me. The snow, which lay thickly on the
sloping bank, was soon hardened. Placing the toboggan on the top, we
took our seats, when a very slight shove was sufficient to send it off,
and down we slid at a rapid rate, increasing our speed every instant,
till we had gained sufficient impetus to glide right across the frozen
surface of the