I dozed off once more after this, when I was aroused by the cool air coming in owing to the curtain in front of the tent being drawn aside as the hunter entered. After looking at me for a few seconds, and discovering that I was awake; he said in a kind voice, "I am glad to find, my young friend, that you have come to yourself. You'll do well now, I've no doubt, but you have had a tough struggle for life, though by the way you made your escape from the red-skins I had great hopes from the first that you would come off the victor." "Have I been long here?" I asked. "Pray let me get up; I want to get to Fort Hamilton, to send the doctor to my mother, who is very ill; and if he doesn't go, I am afraid she will die." "I won't keep you in suspense; the doctor went away the day after you were brought here, and I sent word by him that you were safe. The brave black fellow, who managed to reach the fort, after escaping from the Indians, took the message, but he considered that you were not fit to be moved, and were better off with me than you would be in the crowded fort. To tell you the truth, you've been here six weeks or more, and the chances are that you will remain another six weeks." "I have much to thank you for," I answered, "the news you have given me will restore my strength faster than anything else, and I should feel still happier if you can tell me that mother benefited by the doctor's visit." "Of that I can assure you, for I way-laid him, and got him to come and see you. He informed me that she is in a fair way of recovery." I reiterated my thanks to my host. It was not until he was seated before the fire, cooking some venison steaks from a deer he had just killed, and the flame fell on his countenance, that, examining it, I recognised the white hunter we had met so long before, on our way to Smiling Valley. He had, however, greatly changed since then, and had evidently been leading a wild hunter's life, his dress was of skins, and except his rifle and hunting traps, and cooking utensils, everything in the hut appeared to have been of his own manufacture. "We have met before," I said, "and I had then to thank you for saving me and my companions from the Indians. Don't you remember me?" "I recollect the circumstance, though you have altered so much, that I did not recognise you," he answered. He then made inquiries after the Dominie, and expressed his satisfaction at hearing of our success at Smiling Valley. "Indeed, I knew that some white people had settled there from my Indian friend Kluko, who has been for a long time my firm ally, and frequently assisted me to escape from the red-skins. He will be here before long, as he visits me frequently." I replied that I knew the chief, who had shown his friendly disposition towards us, and should be happy to meet him. I then inquired whether he had been eastward since the time of which we were speaking.