to see them do their bloody work!"

The two strangers exchanged glances--meaning glances--and one of
them laid a hand upon Humphrey's shoulder, looking earnestly into
his eyes the while.

"Is it so in very truth? So have we heard in whispers, but it was a
thing we could scarce believe. We have travelled far from the lands
of the south to join our brethren of the English race. We heard
rumours of wars cruel and bloody. Yet it seemed to us too strange a
thing to believe that here, amid the hostile, savage Indians, white
man could wage war with white man, and take the bloody heathen man
as his ally, instead of the brother who bears the name of Christ!"

Humphrey looked with some wonder and fascination into the face of
the youth who spoke. It was a refined and beautiful face,
notwithstanding the evidences of long exposure to sun and wind. The
features were finely cut, sensitive and expressive, and the eyes
were very luminous in their glance, and possessed strangely
penetrating powers. In stature the young man was almost as tall as
Humphrey, but of a much slighter build; yet he was wiry and
muscular, as could well be seen, and plainly well used to the life
of the wild woodlands. His dress was that of the backwoods, dressed
deerskin being the chief material used. Both travellers wore
moccasins on their feet, and carried the usual weapons of offence
and defence.

Yet Humphrey felt as though this man was in some sort different
from those he had met in the woods at rare times when out hunting.
His voice, his words, his phraseology seemed in some sort strange,