did not seem greatly troubled lest he fail to get through. He claimed
to live at Chicagou Portage, wherever that may be. I only know it is
the extreme frontier."

My mother did not answer; and now I spoke, my cheeks aflame with
eagerness.

"Do you truly mean, sir, that I am to go in search of the little girl?"
I asked, barely trusting my own ears.

"Yes, John," my father replied gravely, motioning me to draw closer to
his chair. "This is a duty which has fallen to you as well as to your
mother and me. We can, indeed, but poorly spare you from the work at
this season; yet Seth will be able to look after the more urgent needs
of the farm while you are absent, while he would prove quite useless on
such a mission as this. Do not worry, Mary. Friend Burns is well
acquainted with all that western country, and he tells me there is
scarcely a week that parties of soldiers, or friendly Indians, do not
pass along the trail, and that by waiting at Hawkins's place for a few
days John will be sure to find some one with whom he may companion on
the long journey westward. He would himself have accompanied him, but
must first bear a message to friends at Vincennes. It is now some
weeks since Roger Matherson died, and we shall prove unworthy of our
trust if we delay longer in sending for his daughter."

Though my mother was a western woman, patient and long habituated to
sacrifice and peril, still her eyes, fixed upon my face, were filled
with tears, and the color had deserted her cheeks.

"I know not why it should be so, David," she urged softly; "but in my