and portions of Scripture reached them from England. Already there were leaders trained to read, and these small books were carried by the natives to their hunting-grounds. There night after night, where the two or three gathered together, the leader would read the wonderful words contained in the little manual. He would then repeat a number of prayers, and all would join in singing some favourite hymn. To the missionaries it seemed as if the Pentecostal fire had really come down upon those lost sheep of the Rocky Mountains.
But alas! great changes ere long took place. This happy state of affairs was not destined to endure. As the serpent entered the Garden of Eden and destroyed its peaceful repose, so it was at The Gap. With the discovery of gold, thousands of men poured into the country. They traversed every trail, followed up every valley in their mad rush for wealth. Although many of the newcomers were good men, who respected the law of God and man, there were others, the scum of civilisation, who polluted everything and place they touched. Little by little they led away the Indians from their allegiance to what they had been taught. For a time the natives resisted, but their thirst for hootch, and the temptations the white men set before them, proved too strong. Sadly Charles Norris and his wife saw their influence wane, and their work of years brought to ruin. They pleaded, they prayed, but all in vain. At last the day came when only two were left—an old leader, Tom, and his faithful wife, Kate. Nothing could divert their loyalty to the missionaries, and they, too, grieved over the defection of the members of their tribe.
It was a trying time when the mission school had to
