days; the Indian women had learned to look upon them almost as their
own; and one dear little girl--Alice--had died after a short illness,
and was buried in the Indian Cemetery. It was a terrible wrench for
these poor Indians one and all to be separated from their Missionary
and his family. And the worst feature of all was that there seemed to
be considerable fear lest the Mission might be given up altogether. The
New England Company, under whose auspices Mr. Chance had worked, had
determined on withdrawing from that portion of the field; and unless
some other Society saw fit to take them up, there seemed but little
prospect that the work among them would be continued.

All these things weighed with me, and I earnestly sought the guidance
of Almighty God in prayer, content to follow His will and to be led by
His hand.

As Mr. Chance intended to leave Garden River early in the spring, and
it was a part of my duty to make extended tours among the scattered
Indians, and minister to their spiritual wants, I decided on making
another trip northward as soon as possible after navigation opened. My
wife accompanied me, and we took an Indian boy with us, named Aleck
Bird, as cook and general servant.




CHAPTER XIII.

ROUGHING IT.