250 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



Among her tribe she was universally considered 

 beautiful ; and her hand had been vainly sought by all 

 the young '' braves " of her tribe. 



Wayward, or indifferent to please, she resolutely re- 

 fused to occupy any lodge but her father^s, however eli- 

 gible and enviable the settlement might have appeared 

 in the eyes of her associates. 



For an Indian girl she was remarkably gentle ; and, 

 as Rousseau gradually recovered his strength, he had, 

 through her leisure, more frequent intercourse with her 

 than with any other of the tribe. There was also a feel- 

 ing in his breast that she was, in the hands of an over- 

 ruling Providence, the instrument used to preserve his 

 life. Whatever might have been the speculations of 

 the elders of the tribe, as day after day Rousseau court- 

 ed her society and listened to the sounds of her voice, 

 we do not know ; but his attentions to her were indi- 

 rectly encouraged, and the Indian girl was almost con- 

 stantly at his side. 



Rousseau's plans were formed. The painful expe- 

 rience he had encountered, while following the ambition 

 of worldly greatness, had driven him back into the se- 

 clusion of the church, with a love only to end with his 

 life. 



He determined to learn the dialect of the people in 

 whose lot his life was cast, and form them into a nation 

 of worthy recipients of the "Holy Church;" and the 

 gentle Indian girl was to him a preceptor, to teach him 



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