an soul that thrilling happiness which kindles and glows and
burns into life when Conscience whispers, "Well done!" and we know that
some thought or word or deed of ours is pleasing to God.

Nothing was or could be more real to Deerfoot than the cause of the
radiance that suffused his being when he came from the lodge of the
Blackfoot chieftain. Science may try to explain such emotions as an
exaltation resulting from physical causes, but no such explanation can
suffice. We feel that which we feel and know that which we know.

CHAPTER XXI.

HOMEWARD BOUND.

Despite the remarkable experiences of George and Victor Shelton in the
Blackfoot village, they found, as the weeks and months passed, a
monotony that deepened their homesickness and caused them to yearn for
the day when they could start southward and leave the bleak region
forever behind. The winters in that latitude are generally severe, and
the brothers got a taste of cold weather such as they had never known
on the other side of the Mississippi. There must have been repeated
spells when, had a Fahrenheit thermometer been in existence, it would
have shown a record of thirty and forty degrees below zero.

People who are accustomed to such Arctic experiences know how to
prepare for them, and Deerfoot and the boys would have been foolish had
they neglected so plain a duty. With wood abundant on every hand, a
bountiful supply was kept within the tepee and outside, and weeks
passed without the fire being allowed to go out. With the soft, warm
furs at command, no one of the three met with more than a brief
discomfort because of the fearful cold.

The chief cause of anxiety was the horses. All were provided with
shelter and carefully looked after. A good deal of grass had been
pulled and much cottonwood and willow bark laid in stock. If the
animals could not fare sumptuously, they had enough to keep them in
good condition. Fully half a dozen of the Blackfoot horses were frozen
to death, and those belonging to our friends would have perished but
for the care they received. They were screened by blankets during the
unusually severe weather, and Whirlwind received the tenderest
attention from Deerfoot. More than once the Shawanoe stole out of the
tepee in the depth of the night and tramped over the snow through an
atmosphere that was still and as biting as the teeth of a saw. No
matter how silently the youth moved forward, the stallion discovered
his approach a