Chapter III (3)

The eager eyes and haggard countenances of the men who listened to the young man's story had been strained and then relaxed as they followed the story with absorbing interest to the end. A great silence fell upon the lodge, and one by one the men arose and went away to their own lodges. They spoke no word, but pondered in silence over the strange things that they had heard. Throughout the next day they talked to each other by the lodge fires; the coming of Apauakas was the burden of the stories told to the women, and a deep, earnest longing took possession of their hearts. At evening time they waited and prayed, but He came not. Despair began once more to be depicted on the faces of the people, and the signs of a coming storm added fear to their misery. The sky grew dark, the air heavy. As they waited in an agony of spirit for the consummation of all their woes, the storm broke, and as it increased in strength the women prayed. One voice alone was heard above the wild wailing of the wind, and the terror-stricken inmates of the lodges listened as it sang, "Apauakas is coming! coming soon!"

At this the women stilled their whispered prayers and waited, looking for the Teacher. The rain ceased to beat upon the lodges, the clouds were swept from the sky, the sun shone out in all its glory, and the air seemed full of voices singing words of love and tenderness.

They looked to where the young man knelt, and saw that a smile of joy rested on his face as he gazed up into the heavens. A strange feeling of awe made them bow their heads. When they looked again they saw he had fallen to the ground. They ran to him, and as they raised him in their arms, gazing in pity into his face, he murmured, "Apauakas has come!" and closed his eyes.

A beautiful spot on the prairie is the honored resting-place of the gentle messenger of love; the Great Teacher had come and taken him home. Health, peace and comfort returned to the people, bringing with them a better knowledge, a nobler life. The stranger who now sits in the lodges and listens to the stories told by the Indians will hear the young man's name repeated with reverence as the prophet who led his people to look for the coming of the Teacher, and see eyes suffused with tears as they repeat,

"APAUAKAS HAS COME! THE CHRIST HAS COME!"

FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE

TWENTY YEARS OF FRONTIER LIFE IN
WESTERN CANADA, 1842-1862.

By JOHN McDOUGALL.

WITH 27 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. E. LAUGHLIN.

Read the following comments:

"This is a true boy's book, and equals in stirring interest anything written by Kingston or Ballantyne. It ought to sell by the thousand."--Mrs. S. A. Curzon, in _Orillia Packet_.

"Possessed of an intimate acquaintance with all the varied aspects of frontier life, Mr. McDougall has produced a book that will delight the heart of every boy reader."--_Endeavor Herald_.

"There are many graphic descriptions of scenes in that vast fertile region in those early days when travelling was difficult and dangerous, but most fascinating to a youth of John McDougall's temperament and training. He lives those stirring times over again in his lively narrative, and relates his personal experiences with all the glow and vividness of an ardent, youthful hunter."--_Canadian Baptist_.

Canadian Savage Folk

The Native Tribes of Canada.

BY

JOHN MACLEAN, M.A., Ph.D.

AUTHOR OF 'THE INDIANS OF CANADA,' 'THE WARDEN OF THE PLAINS,' ETC.

In one volume, 642 pages, fully illustrated and handsomely bound.

PRICE, . . $2.50

CONTENTS: SOME QUEER FOLK--IN THE LODGES--CHURCH AND CAMP--NATIVE HEROES--NATIVE RELIGIONS, RACES AND LANGUAGES--ON THE TRAIL.

"There is no man in Canada, possibly anywhere, who has made a more careful, painstaking life-work in the study of the aboriginal races and all the writings extant relative to them, their traditions and history, than Dr. John Maclean.... While gleaning information from all the recognizedly authentic sources, Dr. Maclean, by his personal experience and individual knowledge, has added not only a vast amount of hitherto unpublished material, but has revivified and reset the old in the most attractive and readable form."--_The Week_.

"The whole ground is covered with a wealth of historic knowledge, while the style makes it as interesting as a romance. The author's familiarity with the subject, being for years a missionary in the far North-West, makes the work a thoroughly reliable treatise."--_Neepawa Register_.

SADDLE, SLED AND SNOWSHOE

PIONEERING ON THE SASKATCHEWAN IN THE SIXTIES

By JOHN McDOUGALL,

Author of "FOREST, LAKE AND PRAIRIE."

WITH 15 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. E. LAUGHLIN.

PRICE, $1.00.

"... If it be their good fortune to obtain it, 'SADDLE, SLED AND SNOWSHOE' will not disappoint their most sanguine expectations.... While hard work, hardship, and plucky endurance characterize and give vim and go to the story, the incidents in which the love of fun, inherent in every boy's nature, finds opportunity of play, add much to the brightness and realistic value of the book. The book is well illustrated, the drawings being faithful to the reality, and the scenes well chosen."--_The Week_.

Press Comments on "Forest, Lake and Prairie."

"Mr. McDougall is a true child of nature. He has passed through scenes that would stir the pulses of less impulsive men, and he writes with the keenest enthusiasm: and this spirit possesses the reader of his thrilling pages."--_Christian Guardian_.

"I have read no book better fitted to inspire our Canadian boys with a healthy interest in their own undiscovered country: nor any more calculated to put into our growing youth the strong, sturdy, self-reliant spirit of a real manhood, an heroic, muscular Christianity."--_Canadian Home Journal_.

WILLIAM BRIGGS, Publisher, Toronto.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Warden of the Plains, by John Maclean

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