he had just met with, caused him to be a little more
respectful in his address.

"Well, I reckon," he said, picking up his knife, and
resuming his whittling, but in a less absorbed manner,
"I meant no harm, but merely that Loup Garou can nose an
Injin better than ere a one of us."

"Nose an Indian better than any one of us! Well, perhaps
he can--he sees them every day, but what has that to do
with his whining and growling just now?"

"Well, I'll tell you, Boss, what I mean, more plain-like.
You know that patch of wood borderin' on the prairie,
where you set me to cut, t'other day?"

"I do. What of that?"

"Well, then, this mornin' I was cuttin' down as big an
oak as ever grew in Michigan, when, as it went thunderin'
through the branches, with noise enough to scare every
buffalo within a day's hunt, up started, not twenty yards
from it's tip, ten or a dozen or so of Injins, all gruntin'
like pigs, and looking as fierce as so many red devils.
They didn't look quite pleasant, I calcilate."

"Indeed," remarked Mr. Heywood, musingly; "a party of
Pottawattamies I presume, from the Fort. We all know
there is a large encampment of them in the neighborhood,
but they are our friends."