d gotten the
better of feminine feeling in another. "I tell you, Serpent brave; he go
home, this time, with four,--yes--two scalp."

"And is that his errand, here?--Did he really come all this distance,
across mountain, and valley, rivers and lakes, to torment his fellow
creatures, and do so wicked a thing?"

This question at once appeased the growing ire of the half-offended
Indian beauty. It completely got the better of the prejudices of
education, and turned all her thoughts to a gentler and more feminine
channel. At first, she looked around her, suspiciously, as if
distrusting eavesdroppers; then she gazed wistfully into the face of her
attentive companion; after which this exhibition of girlish coquetry
and womanly feeling, terminated by her covering her face with both her
hands, and laughing in a strain that might well be termed the melody of
the woods. Dread of discovery, however, soon put a stop to this naive
exhibition of feeling, and removing her hands, this creature of impulses
gazed again wistfully into the face of her companion, as if inquiring
how far she might trust a stranger with her secret. Although Hetty
had no claims to her sister's extraordinary beauty, many thought
her countenance the most winning of the two. It expressed all the
undisguised sincerity of her character, and it was totally free from
any of the unpleasant physical accompaniments that so frequently attend
mental imbecility. It is true that one accustomed to closer observations
than common, might have detected the proofs of her feebleness of
intellect in the language of her sometimes vacant eyes, but they were
signs that attracted sympathy by their total want of guile, rather than
by any other feeling. The effect on Hist, to use the English and more
familiar translation of the name, was favorable, and yielding to an
impulse of tenderness, she threw her arms around Hetty, and embraced her
with an outpouring emotion, so natural that it was only equaled by its
warmth.

"You good--" whispered the young Indian--"you good, I know; it so long
since Wah-ta-Wah have a friend--a sister--any body to speak her heart
to! You Hist friend; don't I say trut'?"

"I never had a friend," answered Hetty returning the warm embrace with
unfeigned earnestness. "I've a sister, but no friend. Judith loves
me, and I love Judith; but that's natural, and as we are taught in the
Bible--but I should like to have a friend! I'll be your friend, with all
my heart,