THE MEETING AT THE GRAVE. 217 



tates. He wandered from place to place, overwhelmed 

 by bitter reflections, and giving way to passionate 

 bursts of anguish. 



As the dusk of evening fell upon river and forest, 

 it found the young hunter still listlessly pacing to and 

 fro by the verge of the Athabasca. Here he had, only 

 two days ago, met M'Leod; and here the rash chal- 

 lenge had been given and accepted. His eye involun- 

 tarily sought the spot where, as the reader may re- 

 member, it had then caught a glimpse of a woman's 

 dress ; and as it did so he started. A figure glided 

 through the trees in the direction of the little grave- 

 yard, and was lost immediately in the gloom. 



Pierre's first reflections were tinged by the supersti- 

 tion so common to most backwoodsmen ; but after some 

 consideration he determined to follow the figure. A 

 few minutes placed him by the edge of the miniature 

 glade we have already described. In the failing light 

 he was at first unable to distinguish any object upon 

 its surface ; but as he slowly and cautiously approached 

 the spot where the grave had been made, a dark figure 

 was discernible upon the ground. The sounds of heavy 

 sobs fell upon his ear, while the wri things of the pros- 

 trate mourner attested the violence of the feelings by 

 which he was agitated. Feeling that he was an in- 

 truder on a grief more sacred than his own, Pierre was 

 about to withdraw as quietly as he had come, when 

 suddenly the mourner rose and at once discovered his 

 presence. It was M'Leod. For a moment the two 



