ely be better for more than two or three hours of
sleep; and if you will drag my bunk to the door, I will keep watch while
you rest."

To this he would not agree. "You require all the sleep that you can
get," he said. "No enemy, either, is able to break in on us unawares.
I have made arrangements in case of an attack, as you would have seen,
had you examined the entrance. There is a thick door which can be slid
across it; and in the door several loopholes, so that Sandy and I could
hold it against any number of Indians who might manage to make their way
up the hill."

From what old Samson had said, I fully expected that the cave would be
attacked; for I did not suppose that the Indians, scouring the country,
would fail to observe our tracks.

The entrance was always kept closed, and we should have been in darkness
had it not been for a rude lamp, fed by bear or deer fat, which stood on
the table. The old hunter and his companion had stored up a large
supply of dried grass for the horses, so that it was not necessary to
turn them out to feed. He allowed me to sleep as much as I could, and
when I was awake he generally seemed disposed to enter into
conversation. He told me many of his adventures and escapes from
Indians, and appeared to like to have me talk to him, and to hear all
about my uncles, Aunt Hannah, and Lily.

One day I began repeating to him the history Uncle Mark had given me of
his and Uncle Stephen's arrival in America. As I went on, I saw that he
was listening with more and more interest; and when I described how, on
reaching the village where my parents had lived, they found it burnt to
the ground, and discovered Lily and me, and our murdered mothers, he
exclaimed--

"Did your uncles learn the name of the little girl's mother?"

"No," I answered; "she died before she had time to utter it, and could
only commit her infant to their charge."

"Strange!" exclaimed the old man. "I had a daughter, my only child,
living in that village; and she, with her husband and babe, were, I had
every reason to suppose, slaughtered by the savages who attacked the
place. Yet it is possible that their infant may be the very one your
uncles saved; but, alas! I can never be sure of that."

"But I think that you may have very satisfactory proofs whether or not
Lily is your daughter's child," I answered, "for Aunt Hannah has
carefully preserved her clothing, and some ornaments which her mother
wore, and which