distributed—­the repose of the invisible winds, that late had howled around him—­the never-ceasing flow of the ice-bound stream before him, and the continual change of hill and valley—­now desolate, and clothed in frosty vestments, and anon with verdure and variegated beauty—­constrained him to acknowledge in the secret portals of his breast that there was a great, ever-existing Creator.  He then called to mind the many impressive lessons of a pious mother, which he had subsequently disregarded.  He remembered the things she had read to him in the book of books—­the words of prayer she taught him to utter every eve, ere he closed his eyes in slumber—­and he now repeated that humble petition with all the fervency of a chastened spirit.  He felt truly convinced of the fallacy of setting the heart and the affections altogether on the things of this world, where mortals are only permitted to abide but a brief space; and a hearty repentance of past errors, and a firm resolve to obey the requisitions of the Omnipotent in future, were in that hour conceived and engraven indelibly upon his heart.

“Mr. Boone—­Mr. Boone—­Mr. Boone!” cried Joe, softly.

“Dod! don’t make sich a fuss,” said Sneak.

“Be silent,” whispered Boone, gliding to Joe, and gazing out on the snow, where he beheld about twenty savages standing erect and motionless, not eighty paces distant.

“I came within an ace of shooting,” said Joe, “before I thought of what you had said.  I pulled the trigger with all my might before I remembered that you said I musn’t shoot till you told me, but as good luck would have it, my musket wasn’t cocked.”  Boone went to each of the other loopholes, and after scrutinizing every side very closely, he directed Sneak and Glenn to abandon their posts and join him at Joe’s stand, for the purpose of discharging a deadly volley at the unsuspecting foe.

“Does it not seem cruel to spill blood in this manner?” whispered Glenn, when he viewed the statue-like forms of the unconscious Indians.

“Had you witnessed the barbarous deeds that I have seen them perform—­had you beheld the innocent babe ruthlessly butchered—­your children—­your friends maimed, tomahawked, scalped, burned before your eyes—­could you know the hellish horrors they are now meditating—­you would not entertain much pity for them,” said Boone, in a low tone, evidently moved by terrible memories, the precise nature of which the one addressed could not understand.  But Glenn’s scruples vanished, and as a matter of necessity he determined to submit without reserve to the guidance of his experienced friend.

“I should like to know how them yaller rascals got up here so close without being eyed sooner,” said Sneak to Joe.

“That’s what’s been puzzling me, ever since I first saw them,” said Joe, in scarce audible tones.

“Split me if you havn’t been asleep,” said Sneak.