the Paleface chief, but I am weary and
hungry, and require sleep and rest. He would not turn me away like a
dog from his door!"

"No, I will not do that," said Uncle Jeff. "You shall have as much food
as you require, and you can lie down and sleep until you are rested;
after that, you shall be welcome to depart."

The Indian expressed his gratitude in a much longer speech than the
occasion required; but when Rachel brought some food he ate it
voraciously, as if he really were as hungry as he had asserted.

Clarice blushed and smiled, when the lieutenant told her how anxious he
had been made by the report he had received from Maysotta, and how glad
he was for the opportunity of returning.

The sergeant was by this time much better, and able to move about. Pat,
too, had behaved very well. The four farm hands had been brought into
the house, and Sergeant Custis and Pat had been regularly drilling them,
and teaching them how to handle their muskets properly.

I found that Uncle Jeff considered matters far more serious than he had
at first been willing to do. Winnemak had been urging him to allow
Clarice, attended by Rachel, to quit the farm--promising to conduct them
to his daughter, and to afford them protection. Should the farm be
attacked, it was quite possible that the defenders might have, as a last
resource, to cut their way out; and, encumbered with the two women, the
risk they would have to run would be far greater than if they had only
themselves to think of.

"I cannot help acknowledging that our Indian friend's advice is sound,"
observed Uncle Jeff. "If we knew that Clarice and Rachel were safe, we
should fight with far more freedom than we could do with them in the
house. And if matters came to the worst, we should, as he says, be able
to escape with far less difficulty than if we had them to look after."

"I am very unwilling to desert you," said the lieutenant; "but, under
the circumstances, if you will confide your niece to my care, with her
attendant, I will undertake to escort them to the Indian camp, where the
chief's daughter is ready to receive her. Indeed, the Indian girl
proposed this herself, and seemed to be aware of what her father had
advised you to do."

While we were talking, I observed that the stranger was listening, and
apparently doing his best to take in what we said. Though he was a
handsome young fellow, yet, as I before remarked, I did not like the
expression of his cou