back to health, I was glad
to lessen my loneliness and make her my wife according to the customs
of her people. Yet," and he smiled a little bitterly, "yet, strange as
it may seem, I still remember that I am a Jew."

He led them into the little cabin with its one window and floor of
clay. At one end stood a rude fireplace made of bricks where a huge
kettle swung Indian-fashion above the logs. At the other end of the
room several heavy blankets indicated a bed, the only furniture being
a few rough chairs, a table and an old trunk half covered by a gayly
striped blanket such as Indian women weave. "A rough place, even for
the wilderness," confessed Mordecai, "but I dare attempt no better. Of
late, the Indians once so friendly, have grown surly and suspicious;
they rightly fear that the white man will wrench the wilderness from
them. Especially Towerculla, a neighboring chief, who hates the ways
of the whites and has been murmuring against me ever since he has
heard that a cotton gin will be erected through my agency. So who
knows when I will be driven from this place by the red men--providing
that they allow me to escape with my life."

"And have you no white neighbors?" asked Barrett, who had seated
himself upon the trunk, where he sat loosening his dusty leggins.

"There is 'Old Milly'." Mordecai's hazel eyes twinkled a little. "She
is the wife of an English soldier who deserted from the army during
the Revolution. After her husband's death she took up her abode here.
She is a woman of strong and resolute character and has considerable
power over the Indians of this district, who stand greatly in awe of
her. She lately married a red man and is really a great person in our
little community, for she owns several slaves and many horses and
cattle. Tomorrow I will introduce you to my only white neighbor. But
here is Becky with the water," as the squaw entered with the brimming
pail. "Wash the dust from your faces that we may sit and eat, for you
must be nearly famished."

The travelers, having washed in the wooden basin that stood on one of
the chairs and shaken some of the dust from their garments, now came
eagerly enough to the table, which the silent Becky had prepared for
them. Upon the bare boards she had set several mugs and heavy crockery
bowls, pewter forks and a large, steaming vessel of the stew which she
had taken from the fire, as well as several cakes made of corn flour
and cooked in the ashes. Such fare wa