never come again."

Mabel looked from one of her protectors to the other, and her fine
eyes swam in tears. Frankly placing a hand in that of each, she
answered them, though at first her voice was choked, "I have no
right to expose you on my account. My dear father will thank you,
I thank you, God will reward you; but let there be no unnecessary
risk. I can walk far, and have often gone miles on some girlish
fancy; why not now exert myself for my life? -- nay, for your
precious lives?"

"She is a true dove, Jasper" said the Pathfinder, neither relinquishing
the hand he held until the girl herself, in native modesty, saw
fit to withdraw it, "and wonderfully winning! We get to be rough,
and sometimes even hard-hearted, in the woods, Mabel; but the sight
of one like you brings us back again to our young feelings, and
does us good for the remainder of our days. I daresay Jasper here
will tell you the same; for, like me in the forest, the lad sees
but few such as yourself on Ontario, to soften his heart and remind
him of love for his kind. Speak out now, Jasper, and say if it is
not so?"

"I question if many like Mabel Dunham are to be found anywhere,"
returned the young man gallantly, an honest sincerity glowing in
his face that spoke more eloquently than his tongue; "you need not
mention the woods and lakes to challenge her equals, but I would
go into settlements and towns."

"We had better leave the canoes," Mabel hurriedly rejoined; "for
I feel it is no longer safe to be here."