"The land is as aged as the rest of the works of the Lord, I believe;
but you say true, concerning its inhabitants. Many months have passed
since I have laid eyes on a face of my own colour, before your own. I
say again, friend, I meant no harm; I did not know, but there was
something behind the cloth, that might bring former days to my mind."

As the stranger ended his simple explanation, he walked meekly away,
like one who felt the deepest sense of the right which every man has
to the quiet enjoyment of his own, without any troublesome
interference on the part of his neighbour; a wholesome and just
principle that he had, also, most probably imbibed from the habits of
his secluded life. As he passed towards the little encampment of the
emigrants, for such the place had now become, he heard the voice of
the leader calling aloud, in its hoarse tones, the name of--

"Ellen Wade."

The girl who has been already introduced to the reader, and who was
occupied with the others of her sex around the fires, sprang willingly
forward at this summons; and, passing the stranger with the activity
of a young antelope, she was instantly lost behind the forbidden folds
of the tent. Neither her sudden disappearance, nor any of the
arrangements we have mentioned, seemed, however, to excite the
smallest surprise among the remainder of the party. The young men, who
had already completed their tasks with the axe, were all engaged after
their lounging and listless manner; some in bestowing equitable
portions of the fodder among the different animals; others in plying
the heavy pestle of a moveable homminy-mortar[*]; and one or two in
wheeling the remainder of the wagons aside, and arranging them in such