ragh!--long life to yese, me jewil!" and clapping
the instrument to his chin, he made an attempt to play on it; but it
required, as may be supposed, no small amount of tuning. Mike at once
set to work, however, turning the keys and drawing the bow over the
strings, all the time uttering expressions of gratitude to the Indian,
and to all concerned in the recovery of the fiddle. The moment he had
tuned it to his satisfaction, he began playing one of the merriest of
jigs, in unison with his own joyous spirits.

Quambo on hearing the sounds started up, snapping his fingers, kicking
up his legs, and whirling round and round in time to the tune. The
Indian, grave as was his exterior, forthwith joined him, out-vying him
in his leaps, and adding the wildest shrieks and shouts. I could not
long resist their example, and in a few minutes even Uncle Mark was
dancing away as vigorously as any of us; Mike all the time kicking his
heels, and bobbing his head with a rapidity which seemed to threaten the
dislocation of his neck. It was the wildest scene imaginable, and any
one observing us would have supposed that we had all gone mad.

At last we had to stop from sheer want of breath, and on entering the
hut Kakaik informed us that it was through the exertions of Manilick
that the fiddle had been recovered. He had paid half-a-dozen yards of
cotton, the same number of strings of beads, a looking-glass, and a
frying-pan, for the treasure. It had been regarded with reverential awe
by the possessors. He sent it, however, as a gift to the rightful
owner, and declined to receive anything in return.

"Faix, thin, I will be grateful to him till the end of me days,"
answered Mike; "and I hope that you will receive, for your throuble in
coming, Masther Kakaik, my 'baccy-box, and half-a-dozen red cotton
handkerchiefs for your wife and childer, all of them bran-new, except
one which I wore as a night-cap when I last had a cowld, and another
which has been in use for a matther of a week or so."

Kakaik accepted the proffered gifts with due gratitude, and further
informed us that the Indians from whom Mike and I escaped had succeeded
in regaining their encampment, though the fire had been close to their
heels; and until Manilick's ambassador visited them they had supposed
that we were destroyed. By the manner in which we had got away from
them, we were very much raised in their opinion; though they threatened,
should they ever catch hold