nderstand him.

"Let me try him, sir," said Malachi, "I will speak to him in the Indian
tongue, he has perhaps forgotten his own. It's wonderful how soon we
return to a state of nature when we are once in the woods."

Malachi then spoke to Percival in the Indian language; Percival listened
for some time, and at last replied in the same tongue.

"What does he say, Malachi?" said Alfred.

"He says he will sing his own death song; that he is the son of a
warrior, and he will die like a brave."

"Why, the boy is metamorphosed," said Captain Sinclair; "is it possible
that so short a time could have produced this?"

"Yes, sir," replied Malachi; "in young people a very short time will
change them thus, but it won't last long. If he were to meet again with
his mother at the settlement, he would by degrees forget his Indian life
and become reconciled; a woman has more effect than a man. Let the
Strawberry speak to him. You see, sir, he is bound, and considers
himself a captive, and let him loose we must not, until we have done our
work; after that, there will be no fear, and when he has been with us a
short time, he will come all right again."

Malachi called the Strawberry, and told her to speak to Percival about
his home and his mother, and every thing connected with the farm.

The Strawberry sat down by Percival, and in her soft tones talked to him
in her own tongue of his father and mother, of his cousins, and how he
had been taken by the Indians when he was hunting; how his mother had
wept for him, and all had lamented his loss; running on in a low musical
key from one thing to another connected and associated with his former
life in the settlement, and it was evident that at last he now listened
with attention. The Strawberry continued to talk to him thus, for more
than an hour, when Alfred again addressed him and said, "Percival, don't
you know me?"

"Yes," replied Percival in English, "I do; you are my brother Alfred."

"All's right now, sir," said Malachi; "only he must be kept fast; but
the lad's coming to his senses again. The Strawberry will talk to him
again by and by."

They then sat down to their meal; the two Indians were removed to a
distance under the guard of one of the soldiers, but Percival remained
with them. John sat by Percival, and cutting off a tempting bit of
venison, held it to his mouth, saying to him, "Percival, when we go home
again, your hands shall be untied, and you shall have a rifl