l for anything but his learning. There was enough in
his frank, fearless, and manly character, backed as it was by great
personal attraction, to awaken her sympathies, without the necessity of
prying into his mental attainments. The poor girl reddened like a rose,
her pretty fingers played with the belt, by which she sustained herself
on the horse, and she hurriedly observed, as if anxious to direct the
attentions of the other listeners from a weakness, on which her own
thoughts could not bear to dwell--

"And this is not a horse, after all?"

"It is nothing more, nor less, than the hide of a buffaloe," continued
the trapper, who had been no less puzzled by the explanation of Paul,
than by the language of the Doctor; "the hair is beneath; the fire has
run over it as you see; for being fresh, the flames could take no hold.
The beast has not been long killed, and it may be that some of the beef
is still hereaway."

"Lift the corner of the skin, old trapper," said Paul, with the tone of
one, who felt, as if he had now proved his right to mingle his voice
in any council; "if there is a morsel of the hump left, it must be well
cooked, and it shall be welcome."

The old man laughed, heartily, at the conceit of his companion.
Thrusting his foot beneath the skin, it moved. Then it was suddenly cast
aside, and an Indian warrior sprang from its cover, to his feet, with an
agility, that bespoke how urgent he deemed the occasion.

CHAPTER XXIV

I would it were bed-time, Hal, and all well.
--Shakspeare.

A second glance sufficed to convince the whole of the startled party,
that the young Pawnee, whom they had already encountered, again stood
before them. Surprise kept both sides mute, and more than a minute was
passed in surveying each other, with eyes of astonishment, if not
of distrust. The wonder of the young warrior was, however, much more
tempered and dignified than that of his Christian acquaintances. While
Middleton and Paul felt the tremor, which shook the persons of their
dependant companions, thrilling through their own quickened blood, the
glowing eye of the Indian rolled from one to another, as if it could
never quail before the rudest assaults. His gaze, after making the
circuit of every wondering countenance, finally settled in a steady look
on the equally immovable features of the trapper. The silence was first
broken by Dr. Battius, in the