ces
and adventures of long ago, and recalling Indian and half-breed
acquaintances of former days, when footsteps approached, and the
entrance of eager, curious visitors suddenly reminded him of his
appointed role. It was marvellous how instantaneously he subsided into
the superannuated driveller who was to bear away the bell from Old Parr
and all the Emperor Alexander's far-sought fossils.

"Je suis vieux, vieux--l'an mil sept cent vingt-six--le treize
Septembre, a Detroit--- je ne puis rappeler rien."

Not another phrase could "all the King's armies, or all the King's men,"
have extorted from him.

So we left him to the admiring comments of the new-comers. I think it
should be added, in extenuation of what would otherwise seem a gross
imposture, that his granddaughter was really ignorant of Crely's exact
age--that he, being ever a gasconading fellow, was quite ready to
personate that certain Joseph Crely whose name appears on the baptismal
records of the Church in Detroit of the year 1726. He was, moreover,
pleased with the idea of being gaily dressed and going on a tour to see
the world, and doubtless rejoiced, also, in the prospect of relieving
his poor granddaughter of a part of the burden of his maintenance. He
was probably at this time about ninety-five years of age. There are
those that knew him from 1830, who maintain that his age was a few years
less; but I take the estimate of Mr. Kinzie and H.L. Dousman, of Prairie
du Chien, who set him down, in 1864, at about the age I have assigned to
him.

THE END.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: Corn which has been parboiled, shelled from the cob, and
dried in the sun.]

[Footnote 2: Literally, _crazy oats_. It is the French name for the
Menomonees.]

[Footnote 3: _Le Forgeron_, or Blacksmith, a Menomonee chief.]

[Footnote 4: A niece of James Fenimore Cooper.]

[Footnote 5: Master--or, to use the emphatic Yankee term, _boss_.]

[Footnote 6: Michaud climbed into a plum-tree, to gather plums. The
branch broke. _Michaud fell_! Where is he? _He is down on the ground_.
No, he is up in the tree.]

[Footnote 7: The supposed Dauphin of France.]

[Footnote 8: The site of the town of Nee-nah.]

[Footnote 9: The bark of the red willow, scraped fine, which is
preferred by the Indians to tobacco.]

[Footnote 10: General Cass was then Governor of Michigan, and
Superintendent of the Northwestern Indians.]

[Footnote 11: In the year 1714.]

[Footnote 12: Father