they sleeping, ay, and dreaming too, of being at home and
in peace! I wish there was time to give you the partic--"

"Proceed with your explanation," interrupted Middleton.

"Ah! and a bloody and wicked sight it was. There I lay in a low bed of
grass, as two of the hunters came nigh each other. Their meeting was not
cordial, nor such as men, who meet in a desert, should give each other;
but I thought they would have parted in peace, until I saw one put his
rifle to the other's back, and do what I call a treacherous and sinful
murder. It was a noble and a manly youth, that boy--Though the powder
burnt his coat, he stood the shock for more than a minute, before he
fell. Then was he brought to his knees, and a desperate and manful fight
he made to the brake, like a wounded bear seeking a cover!"

"And why, in the name of heavenly justice, did you conceal this?" cried
Middleton.

"What! think you, Captain, that a man, who has spent more than
threescore years in the wilderness, has not learned the virtue of
discretion. What red warrior runs to tell the sights he has seen, until
a fitting time? I took the Doctor to the place, in order to see whether
his skill might not come in use; and our friend, the bee-hunter, being
in company, was knowing to the fact that the bushes held the body."

"Ay; it ar' true," said Paul; "but not knowing what private reasons
might make the old trapper wish to hush the matter up, I said as little
about the thing as possible, which was just nothing at all."

"And who was the perpetrator of this deed?" demanded Middleton.

"If by perpetrator you mean him who did the act, yonder stands the man;
and a shame, and a disgrace is it to our race, that he is of the blood
and family of the dead."

"He lies! he lies!" shrieked Abiram. "I did no murder; I gave but blow
for blow."

The voice of Ishmael was deep, and even awful, as he answered--

"It is enough. Let the old man go. Boys, put the brother of your mother
in his place."

"Touch me not!" cried Abiram. "I'll call on God to curse you if you
touch me!"

The wild and disordered gleam of his eye, at first induced the young men
to arrest their steps; but when Abner, older and more resolute than
the rest, advanced full upon him, with a countenance that bespoke the
hostile state of his mind, the affrighted criminal turned, and, making
an abortive effort to fly, fell with his face to the earth, to all
appearance perfectly dead. Amid the low excla