"'Twas then that Orloff takes a hand--the white man. A priest he called himself; breed, Russian. Maybe he was, but a blacker hearted thief never wronged a child. He wanted the girl, Metla, and so did I. When I asked her old man for her he said she was promised to the Russian. I laughed at him, and a chief hates to be mocked. You know what sway the Church has over these Indians. Well, Orloff is a strong man. He held 'em like a rock. He worked on 'em till one day the tribemen came to me in a body and said, 'Go!' "'Give me the girl, and I will,' says I. "Orloff sneered. 'She was mine for a month before ye came,' says he with the fiend showin' back of his eyes. 'Do ye want her now?' "For a minute I believed him. I struck once to kill, and he went down. They closed on me as fast as I shook 'em off. 'Twas a beautiful sight for a ruction, on the high banks over the river, but I was like water from the sickness. I fought to get at their priest where he lay, to stamp out his grinning face before they downed me, but I was beat back to the bluff and I battled with my heels over the edge. I broke a pole from the fish-rack and a good many went down. Then I heard Metla calling softly from below:-- "'Jump!' she said. 'Big one, jump.' "She had loosed a canoe at the landing and now held it in the boiling current underneath, paddling desperately. "As they ran out of the tents with their rifles I leaped. "A long drop and cold water, but I hit feet first. When I rose the little girl was alongside. "It's a ticklish thing to crawl over the stern of a canoe in the spatter of slugs, with the roar of muzzle-loaders above. It's shakin' to the nerves, but the maid never flinched, not even when a bullet split the gunnel. She ripped a piece of her dress and plugged a hole under the water line while I paddled out of range. "The next winter at Holy Cross she ran to me shaking one day. "'He is here! He is here! Oh, Big man, I am afraid!' "'Who's here?' says I. "'He is here--Father Orloff,' and her eyes was round and scared so that I took her up and kissed her while she clung to me--she was such a little girl. "'He spoke to me at the water-hole, "I have come for you." I ran very fast, but he came behind. "Where is George?"' he said. "I went out of the cabin down to the Mission, and into the house of Father Barnum. He was there. "'Orloff! What do ye want?' I says. "Father Barnum speaks up--'he's known for a good man the length of the river. George,' says he, 'Father Orloff tells me you stole the girl Metla from her tribe. 'Tis a shameful thing for a white to take a red girl for his wife, but it's a crime to live as you do.' "'What?' says I. "'We can't sell you provisions nor allow you to stay in the village.' "Orloff grins. 'You must go on,' he says, 'or give her up.'