hem--indeed the
canoe was too small to carry more than two when loaded with the proceeds
of the chase.

"I have often thought" said the hunter, dipping his paddle lazily, "that
you must wonder why one whose position in the world warranted his
looking forward to a bright and prosperous career should inflict on
himself voluntary banishment, and wed an Indian woman."

"Hendrick," returned Paul, "I wonder at few things in this life, for I
know something of the working of the human mind and heart and have
ceased to judge other men's feelings by my own. Besides, I criticise
not the actions of my friend. The motives of his acts are known only to
himself and his God. The Gospel tells me to `judge not according to the
appearance.' Moreover, the longer I live with you, the more have I
learned to know that there are qualities in Trueheart which would do
honour to dames of the highest station."

A gleam of satisfaction lightened the hunter's face for a moment as he
exclaimed, with unwonted energy, "You do her no more than justice, my
friend. I have lived to learn that love, truth, and every virtue are to
be found in every station--alike with the high-born and the lowly; also
that the lack of these qualities is common to both, and, to say truth, I
had rather mate with a gentle savage than with a civilised female
tiger!"

"But Trueheart is not a gentle savage," returned Paul, scarcely able to
repress a smile at the tone in which his friend uttered his sentiments;
"she is a gentle _woman_."

"Of course, I know that" rejoined Hendrick; "moreover she is a
half-caste! I only used the word to designate the class of humanity to
which she belongs, and to contrast her with that other class which deems
itself at the top of the civilised tree."

"But it seems to me, Master Hendrick, that you are inclined to be too
severe on the high-born. There are those among them whose lives conform
to the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus."

"Do I not know it?" replied the hunter abruptly. "Have I not told you
that my murdered wife was high-born and endowed with every grace?"

"True, but what of this civilised female tiger whom you would scorn to
wed. Did not Christ die for _her_? May she not be saved by the same
Power that drags the tiger of the lower ranks--both male and female--
from the pit?"

"I doubt it not," answered Hendrick thoughtfully, as he relapsed into
his usual quiet manner, "and I am glad you appreciate Trueheart, for she