stream hoping to find the necessary provisions.

He was more successful even than he expected, and returned with an ample
supply of fish and fowl. Hitherto the stranger had been in too much
pain to speak more than a few words. The food greatly revived him; and
as he sat up, leaning against the side of the hut, Donald observed that
his eyes were fixed on him with an inquiring look. Donald had spoken
several times in broad Scotch.

"It must be so," exclaimed the stranger at length, "though I am not
surprised, Donald Morrison, that you do not know me."

Donald gazed eagerly at the stranger's countenance, then leaning
forward, grasped his hand.

"Yes, I know you now, Alec Galbraith, my dear friend," he exclaimed,
"though till this moment I had no suspicion who you were. How thankful
I am that I should have been sent to your help."

Donald then told Alec how anxiously he had been inquiring for him, and
how sorry he had been at being unable to discover where he was. "I
don't like to make you talk now, though," he added. "You must tell me
all about yourself by-and-by."

"That would not take long, Donald," answered Alec. "Though, as the
subject is not a pleasant one, I will gladly defer it. Just before I
had discovered who you were I had been intending to insist on your
leaving me till you could send some one back from the township to bring
me in, if any one could be found to perform so thankless an office for a
wretched pauper like me. I had been counting on my strong arm and
resolution to make my way in the backwoods, as many another determined
fellow has done, and now I find myself suddenly brought down, and for
what I can tell to the contrary, a helpless cripple for life."

"You are right in supposing that I would not leave you, my dear Alec,"
answered Donald gently. "Indeed, I would not have done so had you been
a stranger. Trust to God's loving mercy for the future. Your leg is
not, I hope, materially injured, and on your recovery you may be able to
carry out the plan you proposed, for I feel sure you will find
employment for your head as well as your arm, and the two together, in
this magnificent country, will secure you all you can require. But oh,
Alec, if you would but put faith in the love of God and His protecting
care you would no longer be in dread of the future."

Alec sat silent for some minutes. "If God is such as I was always
taught to suppose Him, He can only visit with His vengeance a