, too! Tell me, lad, did the General, for General I know he got to
be, did he ever tell you of the deer we took, that night the outlyers of the
accursed tribe drove us to the caves, on the island, and how we feasted and
drunk in security?«
    »I have often heard him mention the smallest circumstance of the night you
mean; but -«
    »And the singer; and his open throat, and his shoutings in the fights?«
continued the old man, laughing joyously at the strength of his own
recollections.
    »All - All - he forgot nothing, even to the most trifling incident. Do you
not -«
    »What did he tell you of the imp behind the log - and of the miserable devil
who went over the fall - or of the wretch in the tree?«
    »Of each and all, with every thing that concerned them.16 I should think -«
    »Ay,« continued the old man, in a voice which betrayed how powerfully his
own faculties retained the impression of the spectacle. »I have been a dweller
in forests, and in the wilderness for threescore and ten years, and if any man
can pretend to know the world or to have seen scary sights, it is myself! But
never before nor since have I seen human man in such a state of mortal despair
as that very savage, and yet he scorned to speak or to cry out, or to own his
forlorn condition! It is their gift, and nobly did he maintain it!«
    »Harkee, old trapper,« interrupted Paul, who, content with the knowledge
that his waist was grasped by one of the arms of Ellen, had hitherto ridden in
unusual silence, »my eyes are as true and as delicate as a humming bird's in the
day, but they are nothing worth boasting of by star-light. Is that a sick
buffaloe, crawling along, in the bottom, there, or is it one of the stray cattle
of the savages?«
    The whole party drew up, in order to examine the object which Paul had
pointed out. During most of the time they had ridden in the little vales in
order to seek the protection of the shadows, but just at that moment, they had
ascended a roll of the Prairie, in order to cross into the very bottom where
this unknown animal was now seen.
    »Let us descend,« said Middleton. »Be it beast or man, we are too strong to
have any cause of fear.«
    »Now