nothing but the guesses of strangers overcame me. I sobbed so the hoarse
choke echoed in the cabin. Skenedonk opened his arms, and my father and
mother let me lean on the Oneida's shoulder.

I have thought since that they resented with stoical pain his taking
their white son from them. They both stood severely reserved, passively
loosening the filial bond.

All the business of life was suspended, as when there is death in the
lodge. Skenedonk and I sat down together on a bunk.

"Lazarre," my father spoke, "do you want to be educated?"

The things we pine for in this world are often thrust upon us in a way
to choke us. I had tramped miles, storming for the privileges that had
made George Croghan what he was. Fate instantly picked me up from
unendurable conditions to set me down where I could grow, and I squirmed
with recoil from the shock.

I felt crowded over the edge of a cliff and about to drop into a valley
of rainbows.

"Do you want to live in De Chaumont's house and learn his ways?"

My father and mother had been silent when I questioned them. It was my
turn to be silent.

"Or would you rather stay as you are?"

"No, father," I answered, "I want to go."