est scholar
whose years are spent in delving into the mysteries of science. No
finite mind can fathom the mysteries of life, of death, of sleep, of
the beginning, the end, of eternity, of the real nature of the soul and
of God, how He came into existence; nor, indeed, shall we ever
comprehend in all their fullness the simplest phenomena around us. What
is the essence of color or taste or smell? How is the word spoken by us
understood by him to whom it is addressed? When we move a hand or foot,
where and how does the action _begin_? What is the theoretical limit of
divisibility or expansion? These and scores of similar questions have
only to be asked for us to feel the utter helplessness of our powers of
understanding.

But to the untutored savage, shivering in his rude wigwam and manacled
by his sombre superstitions, the essential facts for the saving of his
soul become as clear as the sun in the unclouded heavens. The man with
a dwarfed intellect can see as plainly as he whose telescope, sweeping
the heavens, carries his vision to the bounds of the universe.

"All our philosophic pedants, all our sons of science know
Not a whit more than that dullard knew a million years ago."

Deerfoot stayed with Taggarak for several hours. No one disturbed them,
and the chief would have kept his comforter still longer had not the
latter felt that it was better to leave the Blackfoot to his communings
with God.

When at last the Shawanoe emerged like a shadow from the lodge of the
chief he did not go to his own home. Instead, he turned off, passed
swiftly across the open space that had been the scene of so many
contests and games, entered the hilly section and did not pause until
he came to the place where he and Taggarak had fought several days
before.

Deerfoot had left his rifle at home and was alone. Folding his arms and
standing on the very spot where he had flung Taggarak to the earth and
held him at his mercy, he looked up at the faintly moonlit sky and
murmured:

"Deerfoot does not deserve such happiness as now fills his heart. He
thanks God for His mercy."

Never in all his brief but eventful career had the young Shawanoe felt
more unmistakably the presence of the Father whom he worshiped and
strove to obey. Ambition gratified, triumph obtained, earthly love,
physical or mental achievements, defeat of opponents, wealth, pleasure,
gratification of taste and longings, all these combined cannot give to
the hum