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 
