mething to eat! My poor mother
would heave bitter sighs, of despair, the tears falling profusely
from her cheeks as she kissed us! Wood, though in plenty, could not be
obtained on account of the feebleness of our limbs. My father would
at times draw near the fire and rehearse some prayer to the gods. It
appeared to him that there was no way of escape; the men, women, and
children, dying; some of them were speechless, the wigwam was cold and
dark, and covered with snow!

"On the eleventh day, just before daylight, my father fell into a sleep;
he soon awoke, and said to me: 'My son, the good Spirit is about to
bless us this night; in my dream I saw a person coming from the east
walking on the tops of the trees; he told me we should obtain two
beavers about nine o'clock. Put on your mocassins, and go along with me
to the river, and we will hunt beaver, perhaps, for the last time.' I
saw that his countenance beamed with delight and hope; he was full of
confidence. I put on my mocassins and carried my snow-shoes, staggering
along behind him about half a mile. Having made a fire near the river,
where there was an air-hole through which the beaver had come up during
the night, my father tied a gun to a stump with the muzzle towards the
air-hole; he also tied a string to the trigger, and said, 'Should you
see the beaver rise pull the string, and you will kill it.' I stood by
the fire, with the string in my hand; I soon heard the noise occasioned
by the blow of his tomahawk; he had killed a beaver and brought it to
me. As he laid it down, he said, 'Then the great Spirit will not let
us die here;' adding, as before, 'if you see the beaver rise, pull
the string;' and he left me. I soon saw the nose of one, but I did not
shoot. Presently, another came up; I pulled the trigger, and off the
gun went. I could not see for some moments for the smoke. My father
ran towards me with the two beavers, and laid them side by side; then,
pointing to the sun,--'Do you see the sun?' he said; 'the great Spirit
informed me that we should kill these two about this time in the
morning. We will yet see our relatives at Rice Lake. Now let us go home,
and see if our people are yet alive.' We arrived just in time to save
them from death. Since which we have visited the same spot the year the
missionaries came among us.

"My father knelt down, with feelings of gratitude, on the very spot
where we had nearly perished. Glory to God! I have heard of many wh