leaned on the muzzle of his rifle and looked at this

solitary resting-place of one who, doubtless like himself,

had been a roving hunter. Had he been young or old

when he fell? had he a mother in the distant settlement

who watched and longed and waited for the son

that was never more to gladden her eyes? had he been

murdered, or had he died there and been buried by his

sorrowing comrades? These and a thousand questions

passed rapidly through his mind as he gazed at the little

cross.