elf."

"Suppose it wasn't? I didn't know him then, not as I do now. He's
orthodox, I found out, and that's all I wanted. But I know what I'm
talkin' about. Osceolo, he's always beggin' for Abel to keep liquor:
an' we teetotallers! An' he's teased so much that the other day Abel
thought he'd satisfy him. So he got an old bottle, looked as if some
tipsy Indian had thrown it away, and filled it with a dose of boneset
tea. He made a terrible mystery of the whole matter, pretendin' to be
sly of me, and took it out from under his coat and gave it to Ossy out
behind in the stable, like it was a wonderful secret. Do you know,
that Indian hain't never let on a single word about that business yet?
Oh! he's a master hand for bein' close-mouthed. They all be. They just
_do_--but don't talk."

"Mercy, if _you_ were only a little more talkative, you'd be better
company!" teased Gaspar, who was eager for the finish of the story and
his supper.

"Now--you! Well, laugh away. I don't mind. All is, when Abel saw the
trick Ossy had played on the Doctor, he plays one on Ossy. He'd caught
a queer sort of animal, as I said, and he was fetchin' it to Kit.
Everybody brings her everything, from rattlesnakes up. But when he saw
that ox, he just opens the tin box and claps the creature inside and
then hunts up Ossy. He says: 'There's something in that box pretty
suspicious, boy. You might look an' see what 'tis but don't let on.'
He's that curiosity, Osceolo has, that he forgot everything else and
stuck his hand in sly. I expect he thought it was something to eat, or
likely to drink, and he got bit. Hand's all tore and sore, and now
Abel's scared and gone off with him to the surgeon at the Fort, and
there'll be trouble. Ossy was muttering something about the 'Black
Hawk coming and that he'd had enough of the white folks. He was born
an Indian, and an Indian he'd die'; and to the land! I hope he will!
He makes more mischief in this settlement than you can shake a stick
at!"

"'It's hard for a bird to get away from its tail,'" quoted Gaspar,
lightly. "Osceolo began life wrong and his reputation clings to him.
I'll take the saddle off Jim, and let's go in to supper. None of my
Sun Maid's tribe is to be feared, I think, no matter how direly they
may threaten."

Yet the young husband glanced toward his wife with an anxiety that he
would not have liked her to see. During the weeks since his return to
the village he had learned much more than he h