"I
wish by fair means alone to gain my liberty. I have, though, another
motive for remaining: to search, with the aid of my Indian friends, for
my boy Gilbert and his companions, who have been brought, you say, by
their captors to this part of the country. I will therefore bid you
return and invite the party to come up here. Their presence will, I
hope, have its effect."

The recluse, or Captain Audley, for such it appeared that he was,
continued looking at his young guests; suddenly turning to Oliver, he
asked whether he had heard that he had a sister born some short time
before the settlement was destroyed.

"Yes," answered Oliver, "my mother had a little daughter named Virginia,
the first child born in the settlement, who was, my grandfather
supposed, murdered with her and my father on that cruel day."

"It may have been so," remarked Captain Audley, "but she may have
escaped; and the thought occurred to me when I first saw this little
damsel; for a child of white parents she undoubtedly is, though brought
up with Indian ways and manners; and when I saw you and her together and
heard your name, judging by your age, and on examining your
countenances, which strongly resemble each other, I at once became
impressed with the idea, that she was no other than Virginia Dane, and
therefore your sister. There was no other child in the settlement so
young as she must have been when it was attacked, and none so likely to
have had its life spared."

Oliver looked upon Manita with still greater interest than before, and
giving her a kiss, told her what the white man had said, and asked her
whether she would wish to be his sister.

"Yes, yes," she answered, with a look of pleasure; "and you will come
and live at our village, and go out fishing and hunting with me, and
become some day chief of our tribe."

Oliver tried to explain that it was much more fitting that she should
come and live among the English. At first she did not understand this,
and doubted whether her grandfather would allow her to go. Oliver had
then to explain that the old chief was not her grandfather; possibly,
that he or his followers had murdered their parents, though for some
reason he had saved her life. This seemed to make her waver; she
promised Oliver that she would consider the matter.

"You are too weary to return at once, my young guests," observed Captain
Audley. "While you rest, I will go to the village that you see yonder
and seek