, who ordinarily gave this doric sound
to the word 'mercy'--"Massy, captain, is it _you!_ I should as
soon thought of seeing a ghost! What in natur' has brought you out of
the stockade, sir?"

"I think that is a question I might better ask you, Mr. Strides. My
orders were to keep the gate close, and for no one to quit the court-
yard even, until sent on post, or called by an alarm."

"True, sir--quite true--true as gospel. But let us moderate a little,
captain, and speak lower; for the Lord only knows who's in our
neighbourhood. Who's that with you, sir?--Not the Rev. Mr. Woods, is
it?"

"No matter who is with me. _He_ has the authority of my commands
for being here, whoever he may be, while you are here in opposition to
them. You know me well enough, Joel, to understand nothing but the
simple truth will satisfy me."

"Lord, sir, I am one of them that never wish to tell you anything
_but_ truth. The captain has known me now long enough to understand
my natur', I should think; so no more need be said about _that._"

"Well, sir--give me the reason--and see that it is given to me without
reserve."

"Yes, sir; the captain shall have it. He knows we scrambled out of our
houses this afternoon a little onthinkingly, Injin alarms being skeary
matters. It was an awful hurrying time! Well, the captain understands,
too, we don't work for him without receiving our wages; and I have been
laying up a little, every year, until I've scraped together a few
hundred dollars, in good half-joes; and I bethought me the money might
be in danger, should the savages begin to plunder; and I've just came
out to look a'ter the money."

"If this be true, as I hope and can easily believe to be the case, you
must have the money about you, Joel, to prove it."

The man stretched forth his arm, and let the captain feel a
handkerchief, in which, sure enough, there was a goodly quantity of
coin. This gave him credit for truth, and removed all suspicion of his
present excursion being made with any sinister intention. The man was
questioned as to his mode of passing the stockade, when he confessed he
had fairly clambered over it, an exploit of no great difficulty from
the inside. As the captain had known Joel too long to be ignorant of
his love of money, and the offence was very pardonable in itself, he
readily forgave the breach of orders. This was the only man in the
valley who did not trust his little hoard in the iron chest at the Hut;
even t