Months and years went by, faster than I could suppose possible. We brought more and more ground under cultivation, our cattle increased, as did our herds of swine even still faster, while the few sheep we had brought became a large flock. Mr Tidey still acted as tutor to the family. Dan had, however, become almost a young man, and I had long considered myself grown up. We laboured on the farm, hunted and fished and traded in furs; some of the furs we bought from the Indians, and a considerable number we trapped or shot ourselves. Uncle Denis remained a bachelor, although, when urged by my mother, he sometimes talked of going eastward to look out for a wife. I had no intention of following his example even if he did go. I could not tell whether Lily would consent to marry me, but I determined some day to ask her, feeling now that I should never find her equal in any part of the world. CHAPTER FOURTEEN. MY MOTHER IS TAKEN DANGEROUSLY ILL--DIO AND I SET OFF TO FORT HAMILTON-- BOXER DISOBEDIENT--END OF OUR FIRST DAY'S JOURNEY--AN AGREEABLE ADDITION TO OUR SUPPER--CAT-FISH--MY DOG ON THE WATCH--A MIDNIGHT INTERRUPTION-- OVERTAKEN BY THE SNOW--A TRYING DAY'S MARCH--WE ARE AT LENGTH ABLE TO CAMP--STRONG INCLINATION TO SLEEP--BOXER KEEPS WATCH--THE RED-SKINS NEAR--OUR HORSES AND RIFLES STOLEN--WE SUFFER FROM HUNGER--WE CONTINUE OUR WAY ON FOOT--SLEEP IN A HOLLOW TREE--PURSUED BY WOLVES--WE KILL ONE OF THE PACK--SAVED BY OUR DOG AND A BUFFALO CARCASE--WORN OUT--CAMP. Hitherto our community had enjoyed the most uninterrupted good health, no accidents had even occurred requiring more surgical skill than my father or uncle were able to afford. In this we were especially fortunate, for we knew of no doctor nearer than Fort Hamilton, and we could scarcely expect him to come in any ordinary case of illness. At length our dear mother began to ail, and her pale cheek and sunken eye showed that she was suffering greatly. One evening, towards the end of the year, the trees being already stripped of their leaves, Lily came to me. "Our dear mother is, I fear, very, very ill," she said; "I don't think that your father is aware how serious her case is, and unless we can get a doctor to prescribe for her, I am afraid that she will die. I should be sorry to frighten you unnecessarily, Mike, but I am sure it is of the greatest importance that a medical man should see her without delay." "I am ready to set off this moment, and I will endeavour to bring back a doctor at all costs," I answered. "Do go, Mike," she said; "and yet I fear that you may encounter dangers on the way, the journey is long, and the Indians are less peaceably disposed, it is reported, than they have been of late, but I pray that God will protect you, and I am sure that He will, when you are performing an act of duty."