"Who did it?" Owindia whispered, after she had stood for a while looking down upon the mound.
"We thought you would like it," Natsatt replied. "It was Dan who made the cross, and cut your father's name upon it. People beyond the mountains put crosses over the graves of their loved ones. Dan said that though your father wasn't really a Christian he was a far better man than many Christians he knew. Some day you will learn what that cross means, and why it is placed over graves."
For some time they stood by the side of the mound, and then Owindia moved away and gathered some wild flowers she saw growing near. They were the pretty wild rose, lupin, blue-bell, and berry blossoms. These she and Natsatt gathered, and laid them tenderly upon the grave. This deed of love accomplished, and with a long, lingering glance upon the spot she would soon never see again, Owindia placed her hand in Natsatt's and he led her slowly back to the Fort.
In a few days the Company's boats were all ready for their long voyage upstream. Dan, Natsatt, and Owindia went with them. They thus turned their backs for ever upon the country which had been the scene of so much sorrow mingled with joy. And they left behind, too, Klitonda, the chief of the Ranges, who had fought a brave, stubborn fight, and like many reformers, had given up his life ere he saw the cause for which he died triumphant in the end.
[CHAPTER XXVIII]
AT LAST
It was a summer afternoon late in June when a lithe canoe containing two men, cut through the water of a large lake in the great Canadian Northwest. Everything spoke hurry. It was shown in the long sweep of the paddles, and the anxious glances which the men now and then cast upon a dim headland miles beyond. The canoe seemed to enter into the spirit of the excitement, and throbbed with life as it cleaved the rippling surface. It was a bright day, and the sun poured its hot beams upon the heads of the voyagers. The whole region surrounding the lake was covered with a thick forest sloping to the water's edge. Not a sign of human life was anywhere to be seen. Birds alone made their appearance, as they darted here and there as if rejoicing over the presence of the canoe in their midst.
"Do you think we can get there in time?" Natsatt asked, as he rested for a few seconds on his paddle and looked keenly forward.
"Sure," Dan replied. "But there's not a minute to lose. If it hadn't been for that delay in the rapids we'd have been there before now."