"Try to do my duty, and hold out till Spring. Then if he becomes too offensive, and I see our mission will suffer, I shall hold a Council of the leading Indians about the matter."
Joe leaned eagerly forward with an anxious look upon his face. "Say, parson, I wouldn't wait till Spring if I were in your shoes. You'll need their help before that."
"How do you know?"
"Pritchen will work through the miners. He'll not touch you himself, that is quite evident, but he'll cut at you in some other way. I've heard him talk; and you have no idea how he's poisoning the men's minds."
"Never fear," returned Keith. "We're in the Great Master's keeping, and He will look after us. But come, let us get something to eat. We have talked too long already, though it has been a comfort to unburden my mind. After our bite we must get this room ready for the men to-night."
"And I'll round up as many as I can," replied Joe, as they set out for the mission house.
CHAPTER XIII
PRITCHEN GETS BUSY
Several days after the conversation in the school room, Pritchen was striding along the trail, which wound through the Indian village. Under his right arm he carried his long, narrow snow-shoes, while over his left shoulder was a small rifle, pendant from which were a few plump white ptarmigan. The trail ran close to the mission house, and, drawing near, the hunter observed the missionary by the door splitting fire wood.