saddle before him, and bore her back to camp. She
would not relinquish the trophies found at the fort, which she had
purchased so dearly, but carried them with her.

"My children, how could you wander away so, when you well knew the
dangers of the woods?" said the father, when they were once more safely
in the camp.

"It was not Anne's fault, father: do not blame her. I persuaded her to
cross the river, and after leaving the old Indian fort, somehow we got
turned around, and instead of recrossing the river, we went on and
crossed over another stream," said Edward.

"Neither was it all Edward's fault," replied Anne; "I wanted to see
what was in the Willow Grove, and when once there the woods were so
shady and looked so cool and inviting----"

"Wolves and all, sister?" said Benny.

"The wolves were not there then; nothing but birds and squirrels, and
such bright flowers and----"

"Were you not very much frightened, when you found you had lost
yourselves?" asked Jane.

"Oh! yes; and when the wolf jumped at Edward, I thought we should never
see any of you again."

"Where is your 'plate cover' you used so effectually," said Edward,
"for I want you all to know that when the wolf was getting the better
of me, Anne, usually so timid, suddenly became very courageous, and
with this for a weapon turned the brute's attention on herself, and
thus perhaps saved my life."

"Give me Anne's 'plate cover;'" said the father, "I am curious to
examine what seems to have played so active a part in your adventure."

"A curious thing, very," said he, examining it closely. "Howe, did you
ever come across anything like it in your wanderings? It is heavy,
evidently of some kind of metal."

"Once, and once only. But its description would be a long story. Scrape
away the rust, Duncan, and see if it is made of copper."

Mr. Duncan cut away a thick scale of corroded metal, then scraping it
with a knife a pure copper plate was exposed to view.

"I thought so," said Howe. "It is a strange story, but I will tell you
all I know of it."

Chapter Third.

Howe's Story of a singular piece of Metal.

In compliance with Mr. Duncan's wish Howe related the story of the
singular piece of metal he had seen, similar to the one they had
discovered.

"Some twenty years ago," said he, "my father and I carried on an
extensive traffic with the Indians around Lake Superior for furs, often
being gone a year on our expeditions, during which