"Stick to your Swaddling, Ned," Percy added, as the sergeant left them, "you'll have a lot of temptations here with us, but don't backslide--I think that is what you call it. You will do well for yourself if you keep steady, and you'll do that if you can keep to what you are now. Do you remember a man called Sells, on board the 'Lightfoot'? He had some education, but drink and wild living wrecked his life and he enlisted. He might have risen then, for he had the ability to lead men, but drink brought him into continual disgrace. He's at Kingston now, too degraded ever to rise again." Ned was thankful it was too dark for Percy to see his face, and he was glad to be sent on to Ferguson, whose blanket he shared that night. "It seems a long time since our first night in Canada," the Methodist said. "How is it with you? In all our hard marching I have seemed to be dwelling in the clefts of the Rock." "You were at Kingston?" Ned asked, not knowing what to say. He longed to confide in Ferguson, yet dare not compromise him by letting him know his friend was legally an escaped criminal. "Yes," Ferguson answered, "everything had a warlike appearance there--God and eternity forgotten. I asked if there were any Methodists in town, and a peddler told me of a militia captain who was also a class leader. The man spoke with a blush, for he had been one of our travelling preachers, but had backslidden, and taken up worldly work. Still he was very kind to me. He introduced me to the class leader captain, whose company was like 'a water brook to the panting hart'. I had been so long away from any who knew Canaan's language." "I can't understand why our lives should be so hard to live some times," Ned spoke with a bitterness that surprised his friend. "In the secret of His tabernacle did He hide me," said Ferguson quietly. "My great trouble on this march is the injury this army has done to the farmers on our way. We have plenty of meat, but not much else to eat, and the men will steal handfuls of garden stuff, or slip out and milk a cow. I have kept from touching anything that was not paid for, and God has given me favor in the sight of all. My comrades will not swear or steal in my presence, and any privilege I ask of my officers is readily granted." Ned slept then till he was awakened by Ferguson's touch. All round tired men were sleeping heavily, but a wonderful dawn was flushing the sky above Lake Ontario, which was turning from dull gray to the tints of a pearl shell. Overhead the birds were calling, and Ferguson had risen in accordance with the discipline of his church, which bade a man rise an hour before his work compelled him to, to read the Bible on his knees, and pray. Ned had forgotten to pray since his life had been blasted by a traitor's lie, but now he knelt by Ferguson, thanking God for the young girl's kiss that had given him courage to face his world again.