ed into
his mind, and standing forth with flushed countenance and raised arm, he
said--

"Hendrick, tell the chief of the Bethucks that when the Great Spirit
formed man He made him without sin and gave him a just and holy law to
obey; but man broke the law, and the Great Spirit had said that the
price of the broken law is death. So there seemed no hope for man,
because he could not undo the past, and the Great Spirit would not
change His law. But he found a way of deliverance. The Great Spirit
himself came down to earth, and, as the man Jesus Christ, paid the price
of the broken law with His own blood, so that guilty, but forgiven, man
might go free. Now, if the Great Spirit could pardon the guilty and set
them free, would it be wrong in Bearpaw to follow His example?"

This was such a new idea to the Indian that he did not at first reply.
He stood, with folded arms and knitted brow, pondering the question. At
last he spoke slowly--

"Bearpaw knows not the thing about which his paleface brother speaks.
It may be true. It seems very strange. He will inquire into the matter
hereafter. But the laws that guide the Great Spirit are not the laws
that guide men. What may be fit in Him, may not be fit in them."

"My dark-skinned brother is wrong," said Hendrick. "The law that guides
the Great Spirit, and that _should_ guide all His creatures, is one and
the same. It is the law of love."

"Was it love that induced the palefaces to kill Little Beaver and steal
Rising Sun?" demanded the chief fiercely.

"It was not," replied Hendrick; "it was sin; and Bearpaw has now an
opportunity to act like the Great Spirit by forgiving those who, he
thinks, have sinned against him."

"Never!" returned the chief vehemently. "The palefaces shall die; but
they shall live one day longer while this matter is considered in
council, for it is only children who act in haste. Go! Bearpaw has
spoken."

To have secured even the delay of a single day was almost more than the
prisoners' friends had hoped for, and they resolved to make the most of
it.

"Now, Hendrick," said Paul, when they were in the tent that had been set
aside for their use, "we must be prepared, you and I, to give the chief
a full account of our religion; for, depend on it, his mind has been
awakened, and he won't rest satisfied with merely discussing the subject
with his men of war."

"True, Paul; what do you propose to do?"

"The first thing I shall do is