growling in his sleep, as if in dreams he chased the deer, and
then, starting up, he licked his master's hand and went to sleep
again.

On the opposite side of the hearth, Zenas was crouched upon the
floor, laboriously shaping an ox-yoke with a spoke-shave. For in
those days Canadian farmers were obliged to make or mend almost
everything they used upon the farms.

Necessity, which is the mother of invention, made them deft and
handy with axe and adze, bradawl and waxed end, anvil and forge.
The squire himself was no mean blacksmith, and could shoe a horse,
or forge a plough coulter, or set a tire as well as the village
Vulcan at Niagara.

"Right welcome," said the squire, as he made room for Neville near
the fireplace, while Katherine gave him a quieter greeting and
politely relieved him of his wrappings. "Well, what's the news
outside?" he continued, we must explain that as Niagara, next to
York and Kingston, was the largest settlement in the province, it
rather looked down upon the population away from "the front," as
it was called, as outsiders almost beyond the pale of
civilization.

"No news at all," replied Neville, "but a great anxiety to hear
some. When I return from the front, they almost devour me with
questions."

The early Methodist preachers, in the days when newspapers or
books were few and scarce, and travel almost unknown, were in one