werless
to save her--the sweet girl who left her home and people to follow me, a
rough hunter, through the lonesome wilderness!"

He covered his face again, and groaned in agony of spirit, while his
whole frame quivered with emotion.

Jacques remained silent, and his sympathising friends refrained from
intruding on a sorrow which they felt they had no power to relieve.

At length he spoke. "Yes," said he; "I would give much to meet with the
man who tried to save her. I saw him do it twice; but the devils about
him were too eager to be balked of their prey."

Charley and the Indian exchanged glances. "That Indian's name," said
the former, "was _Redfeather_!"

"What!" exclaimed the trapper, jumping to his feet, and grasping
Redfeather, who had also risen, by the two shoulders, stared wildly into
his face; "was it you that did it?"

Redfeather smiled, and held out his hand, which the other took and wrung
with an energy that would have extorted a cry of pain from any one but
an Indian. Then dropping it suddenly and clinching his hands, he
exclaimed:--

"I said that I would like to meet the villain who killed her--yes, I
said it in passion, when your words had roused all my old feelings
again; but I am thankful--I bless God that I did not know this sooner--
that you did not tell me of it when I was at the camp, for I verily
believe that I would not only have fixed _him_, but half the warriors o'
your tribe too, before they had settled _me_!"

It need scarcely be added that the friendship which already subsisted
between Jacques and Redfeather was now doubly cemented; nor will it
create surprise when we say that the former, in the fullness of his
heart, and from sheer inability to find adequate outlets for the
expression of his feelings, offered Redfeather in succession all the
articles of value he possessed, even to his much-loved rifle, and was
seriously annoyed at their not being accepted. At last he finished off
by assuring the Indian that he might look out for him soon at the
missionary settlement, where he meant to stay with him evermore in the
capacity of hunter, fisherman, and jack-of-all-trades to the whole clan.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN.

THE SCENE CHANGES--BACHELOR'S HALL--A PRACTICAL JOKE AND ITS
CONSEQUENCES--A SNOW-SHOE WALK AT NIGHT IN THE FOREST.

Leaving Charley to pursue his adventurous career among the Indians, we
will introduce our reader to a new scene, and follow for a time the
fortunes o