nt.

They were very rough daubs, crudely coloured and gaudy. In the first, a
red man was reposing serenely upon what appeared to be a range of
mountains, with a musical instrument in his hand, a crown upon his head,
and a smile upon his face. In the second, a similar man was screaming
at the pitch of his lungs, while half-a-dozen black creatures were
battering him with poles and prodding him with lances.

"It is a damned soul and a saved soul," said Father Ignatius Morat,
looking at his pictures with some satisfaction. "These are clouds upon
which the blessed spirit reclines, basking in all the joys of paradise.
It is well done this picture, but it has had no good effect, because
there are no beaver in it, and they have not painted in a tobacco-pipe.
You see they have little reason, these poor folk, and so we have to
teach them as best we can through their eyes and their foolish senses.
This other is better. It has converted several squaws and more than one
Indian. I shall not bring back the saved soul when I come in the
spring, but I shall bring five damned souls, which will be one for each
nation. We must fight Satan with such weapons as we can get, you see.
And now, my children, if you must go, let me first call down a blessing
upon you!"

And then occurred a strange thing, for the beauty of this man's soul
shone through all the wretched clouds of sect, and, as he raised his
hand to bless them, down went those Protestant knees to earth, and even
old Ephraim found himself with a softened heart and a bent head
listening to the half-understood words of this crippled, half-blinded,
little stranger.

"Farewell, then," said he, when they had risen. "May the sunshine of
Saint Eulalie be upon you, and may Saint Anne of Beaupre shield you at
the moment of your danger."

And so they left him, a grotesque and yet heroic figure, staggering
along through the woods with his tent, his pictures, and his mutilation.
If the Church of Rome should ever be wrecked it may come from her
weakness in high places, where all Churches are at their weakest, or it
may be because with what is very narrow she tries to explain that which
is very broad, but assuredly it will never be through the fault of her
rank and file, for never upon earth have men and women spent
themselves more lavishly and more splendidly than in her service.

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE LORD OF SAINTE MARIE.

Leaving Fort St. Louis, whence the bells had sounded