en my friends, and I don't want to help kill
'em. They've ben abused, and thet's what made 'em rise up agin the
whites. They've ben cheated out of their land, and then cheated out of
the money they ought to hev fur it. I pity 'em, and I shan't help kill
'em. I shall go back to the woods when the fightin' 's over, and live
like I allers did."
The next day Ethan and Fanny shook hands with Rattleshag, and bidding
him a cordial good by, started upon their long journey to the eastward.
The prairie boy was greatly excited at the prospect of seeing the great
cities of the country through which he was to pass. On cars and
steamers where it was known that the boy and girl were refugees from
the great Indian massacre, they were the lions of the hour. They were
often called upon to tell their story of peril and death, and every one
was kind and generous to them. They were frequently invited to private
houses on the journey; but they declined all invitations, and hurried
on as fast as steam could convey them to their destination, and arrived
at Woodville without even stopping to sleep a night on the way.
Mrs. Green gave the exiles a motherly welcome. The fact that the
massacre had extended to the settlement where Fanny's uncle resided had
been published in the newspapers, and the housekeeper and servants
believed that she had been one of its victims. She was welcomed,
therefore, as one who had come from the grave. Ethan was regarded as a
hero at the mansion and in its vicinity, and became a person of no
little distinction.
Ethan French was a young man of no little manliness and independence.
After he had spent a week in idleness, and had told the story of his
escape from the Indians till it had become tiresome to him, he began to
look about him for a situation in which he could earn his own living.
But Mrs. Green induced him to remain at Woodville until the return of
Mr. Grant; and he worked in the garden and stable.
Without waiting for instructions from Mr. Grant, the housekeeper
forwarded to the kind-hearted trader the sum of money which he had
advanced to pay the expenses of Fanny and Ethan from Mankato to
Woodville. The money was accompanied by a letter of thanks from Fanny.
In November, the family returned from Europe. Mrs. Green had already
informed them by letter of the safety, and of the arrival at Woodville,
of Fanny Jane, as she was called in the house. Mr. Grant and his
daughters had suffered a great deal of an
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