As he bent down for it Father Roland said quite audibly: "_Damn!_" He was smiling when he rose.

David, also, was smiling.
"I was thinking," he said--as though the other had demanded an explanation of his thoughts--"what a curious man of God you are, _mon Pere_!" The Little Missioner chuckled, and then he muttered, half to himself as he lighted the tobacco, "True--very true." When the top of the bowl was glowing, he added: "How are your legs?
It is still a good mile to the shack." "I am going to make it or drop," declared David.
He wanted to ask a question.

It had been in his mind for some time, and he burned with a strange eagerness to have it answered.

He looked back, and saw Baree circling slowly over the surface of the lake toward the forest.

Casually he inquired: "How far is it to Tavish's, _mon Pere_ ?" "Four days," said the Missioner.