"I saw," he said slowly, "a new trail bein' blazed out fer ye by the hand of the Almighty. Somethin' tells me, I dunno what it is, unless it was yer knocked out condition last night, an' yer rough appearance, that ye've been on a hard trail of late."
"I have, Pete, I have," assented Keith, resisting with difficulty the temptation to tell his companion all about his troubles.
"I knowed it, laddie. An' now ye've almost fergot the old trail with all its snags, because a new one lies afore ye. Ye'll find snags thar, too, remember, but it'll make all the difference in the warld when the shinin' light of a true woman lightens yer path."
"Pete!" exclaimed Keith. "I——"
"It reminds me of this cabin," continued the prospector, unheeding the interruption. "I come back to it, sometimes, tired an' discouraged. The place is cold and dismal, an' I feel that life isn't worth livin'. But when yon stove gits to wark, blazin' away like mad, purty soon things change, an' a new feelin' creeps over me. It's jist because somethin' warm an' cheerful has knocked out an' taken the place of t'other.
"Now, that's jist what that lassie over yon has done fer me. I've had a mighty bad season, an' felt like seven divils when I come back. Even the old stove couldn't cheer me up completely, an' things looked purty blue. Jist then that lassie an' her dad drifted inter this camp. We call 'im 'Colonel,' because of his white hair, long beard, an' noble bearin'. They was down to hard pan, if any one ever was, an' says I to meself, says I, 'Pete, ye've got to do somethin'!' So in the doin' that somethin', an' seein' the lassie's bright face an' sunny ways in the midst of her hardships, knocked my own trouble clean outer my head. She's a woman, through and through, if ever thar was one."
"She is," ejaculated Keith, looking meditatively at the stove.
"But come, laddie," said Pete, suddenly rising to his feet, "it's time ye was in bed. Ye'll need a good rest afore the b'ys come to church."
"What! a service?" asked Keith eagerly. "Will the men come? And do you think they will care for it?"
"It's not what they care fer, laddie; but, what's yer dooty? It's Christmas Day, an' it'll remind us of old times. Some'll like it, an' some won't. But yer Orders, as fer as I kin understand, is 'to preach the Gospel,' an' here's an opportunity. They'll come, never ye fear that."