ubmitted to circumstances which he could not alter, and
contented himself with assuring Redfeather that if he lived till next
spring he would most certainly "make tracks for the great lake," and
settle down at the missionary's station along with him. This promise
was made at the end of the wharf of Stoney Creek the morning on which
Mr Conway and his party embarked in their tin canoe--the same tin canoe
at which Jacques had curled his nose contemptuously when he saw it in
process of being constructed, and at which he did not by any means curl
it the less contemptuously now that he saw it finished. The little
craft answered its purpose marvellously well, however, and bounded
lightly away under the vigorous strokes of its crew, leaving Charley and
Jacques on the pier gazing wistfully after their friends, and listening
sadly to the echoes of their parting song as it floated more and more
faintly over the lake.

Winter came, but no ray of sunshine broke through the dark cloud that
hung over Stoney Creek. Harry Somerville, instead of becoming better,
grew worse and worse every day, so that when Charley dispatched the
winter packet, he represented the illness of his friend to the powers at
headquarters as being of a nature that required serious and immediate
attention and change of scene. But the word _immediate_ bears a
slightly different signification in the backwoods to what it does in the
lands of railroads and steamboats. The letter containing this hint took
many weeks to traverse the waste wilderness to its destination; months
passed before the reply was written, and many weeks more elapsed ere its
contents were perused by Charley and his friend. When they did read it,
however, the dark cloud that had hung over them so long burst at last; a
ray of sunshine streamed down brightly upon their hearts, and never
forsook them again, although it did lose a little of its brilliancy
after the first flash. It was on a rich, dewy, cheerful morning in
early spring that the packet arrived, and Charley led Harry, who was
slowly recovering his wonted health and spirits, to their favourite
rocky resting-place on the margin of the lake. Here he placed the
letter in his friend's hand with a smile of genuine delight. It ran as
follows:--

MY DEAR SIR,--Your letter containing the account of Mr Somerville's
illness has been forwarded to me, and I am instructed to inform you
that leave of absence for a short time has been gran