And so the poor Indians of our story troubled themselves but little
about the missing babe, and there was certainly a bare possibility
that the father might come upon it and succour it--for Michel had
always been a kind father, that he might possibly find and carry the
child to one of the camps not far distant, where it would, for a time
at least, be cared for. The camps therefore were pitched in the new
camping ground; the men of the party were soon off, laying their fish
nets; the women, gathering round their camp fires, renewed their
wailing and lamentations; the little ones slept, worn out with
fatigue and sorrow, and ere nightfall every sound was stilled. The
stars shone out on those few clustered tents,--and on that solitary
grave the other side of the river. The Aurora spanned the northern
sky, and played with bright and flickering light, now tremulous upon
the blue ether, then heaving and expanding, spreading itself out with
indescribable grace and beauty. Then it would seem to gather itself
together, folding its bright rays as an angel might fold its wings:
for a time it is motionless, but this is but the prelude to more
wondrous movements. Soon it commences to play anew, sending its
flaming streamers in new directions, and now contracting now
expanding, filling the whole heavens with glory of an ever-changing
hue.

But there is yet another wonder connected with this, which of all
the phenomena of Nature, nearest approaches to the supernatural: it
has uttered a sound--that beautiful sheaf of many tinted flames!
Once, twice, we have heard it, or if it were not _that_, it was
an angel's whisper! In that great solitude there is no fear of any
other sound intruding to deceive our ear. There, is such deep silence
over hill and dale that scarcely a leaf would dare to flutter
unperceived, and the ear might start to catch the sighing of a