having had the benefit of Baptiste's skill, were greatly relished by
Johnston, who found his appetite for the plain fare of the shanty much
dulled by his confinement.

As the days slipped by the foreman began to open his heart to his young
companion and to tell him much about his boyhood, which deeply interested
Frank. Living a frontier life, he had his full share of adventure in
hunting, lumbering, and prospecting for limits, and many an hour was
spent reviewing the past. One evening while they were thus talking
together Johnston became silent and fell into a sort of reverie, from
which he presently roused himself, and looking very earnestly into
Frank's face, asked him,--

"Have you always been a Christian, Frank?"

The question came so unexpectedly and was so direct that Frank was quite
taken aback, and being slow to answer, the foreman, as if fearing he had
been too abrupt, went on to say,--

"The reason I asked was because you seem to enjoy so much reading your
Bible and saying your prayers that I thought you must have had those good
habits a long time."

Frank had now fully recovered himself, and with a blush that greatly
became him, answered modestly,--

"I have always loved God. Mother taught me how good and kind he is as
soon as I was old enough to understand; and the older I get the more I
want to love him and to try to do what is right."