elieved that I must
abandon all hopes of restoring you to your mother's arms; and,
ungrateful as I was, a merciful Providence has brought you to me."

"O papa! papa! I am so happy," cried Robin. "You must get well, and
we'll go back together to mamma and dear little Ella and Oliver."

Captain Grey smiled faintly.

"You must pray with me to God that He will restore me, for He alone has
the power," he answered; "and we must never again mistrust His
providence."

This unexpected meeting between Robin and his father gave us all sincere
pleasure, and made us acknowledge that our course had been directed by a
Superior Power. I cannot but suppose that Robin's arrival at that very
moment had the effect of giving a turn to his father's complaint;
though, for several days, we perceived no change in him.

All we could see was that he was not worse.

Alick rapidly recovered, and in the course of a week was on foot and
able to face the wintry cold.

A heavy fall of snow prevented us from leaving the hut, so we employed
the time in manufacturing snow-shoes, without which we saw that it would
be impossible to go in search of game. On examining our store of
provisions, we found that unless we could kill some large game--either a
buffalo, a deer, or a bear--we should be compelled to trespass on
Captain Grey's stock.

Alick and I discussed the matter when we were out together.

"I see no other alternative, should we fail to obtain an abundance of
meat, than to push on at once to Fort Ross," he observed. "You and I
and Martin and Pat must go. I shall be very sorry to part from Robin,
but we must, of course, leave him with his father, and endeavour as soon
as possible to send them assistance. I wish that we could find a doctor
to send to them, for I fear that the captain will not recover without
medical aid. As it is, should the two Ojibbeways be unsuccessful in
hunting, they will be very hard pressed for food."

I agreed in this with Alick, but I thought that Captain Grey would get
well in the course of time, without a doctor. I hoped so, indeed, for
there was but little prospect of our finding one.

As soon as the weather cleared, Alick, Martin, and I set off on
snow-shoes with our guns, but returned without having seen even the
trace of an animal. For three days in succession we went out, but came
back as unsuccessful as at first. We accordingly, as we had determined,
told Captain Grey of our proposal to start fo