But, I may put the like question to
yourself. Are you of the party which the States have sent into their new
purchase to look after the natur of the bargain they have made?«
    »I am not. Lewis is working his way up the river, some hundreds of miles
from this. I come on a private adventure.«
    »Though it is no cause of wonder that a man whose strength and eyes have
failed him as a hunter, should be seen nigh the haunts of the beaver, using a
trap instead of a rifle, it is strange, that one so young and prosperous, and
bearing the commission of the Great Father, should be moving among the Prairies,
without even a camp-colour-man to do his biddings!«
    »You would think my reasons sufficient did you know them, as know them you
shall, if you are disposed to listen to my story. I think you all, honest, and
men who would rather aid than betray one, bent on a worthy object.«
    »Come, then, and tell us at your leisure,« said the trapper, seating
himself, and beckoning to the youth to follow his example. The latter willingly
complied, and after Paul and the Doctor, had disposed of themselves to their
several likings, the new-comer, entered into a narrative of the singular reasons
which had led him so far into the deserts.
 

                                   Chapter XI

            »So foul a sky clears not without a storm.«
                                                           King John, IV.ii.108.
 
In the mean time the industrious and irreclaimable hours continued their
labours. The sun, which had been struggling through such masses of vapor
throughout the day, fell slowly into a streak of clear sky, and thence sunk,
gloriously, into the gloomy wastes, as he is wont to settle into the waters of
the ocean. The vast herds, which had been grazing among the wild pastures of the
Prairies, gradually disappeared, and the endless flocks of aquatic birds, that
were pursuing their customary annual journey from the virgin Lakes of the North
towards the Gulf of Mexico, ceased to fan that air, which had now become loaded
with dew and vapour. In short, the shadows of night, fell upon the rock, adding
the mantle of darkness to the other dreary accompanyments of the place.
    As the light began to fail, Esther collected her younger children at her
side, and placing herself on a projecting point of her insulated fortress, she
sat patiently awaiting the return of the hunters. Ellen Wade was at no great
distance, seeming to keep a little