I said to the good missionary,--a little too harshly, perhaps,--"Ah! if you were a father!" "I am," said he, "the father of all this flock, and your children are mine; I am answerable for all.

Command your sons to be silent; request the child to be composed, and leave the rest to me." I immediately took advantage of the permission to speak.

"Dear Francis," said I, holding out my arms, "we are come to seek you and your mother; after all our dangers, we shall soon meet again, to part no more.

But be composed, my child, and do not risk the happiness of that moment by any impatience.

Trust in God, and in this good friend that He has given us, and who has restored to me the treasures without which I could not live." We then waved our hands to him, and he remained still, but wept quietly, murmuring our names: "Papa, Fritz, Ernest,--tell me about mamma," said he, at last, in an inquiring tone.
"She does not know we are so near her," said I."How did you leave her ?" "Very much grieved," said he, "that they brought me away; but they have not done me any harm,--they are so kind; and we shall soon all go back to her.