be a thing more easily said than done. A drop of water
might as readily be banished from that stream, as an Indian, from any
part of the forest he may choose to visit. You brought him here
yourself, Bob, and should not blame us for tolerating his presence."

"I brought him, sir, because I found he recognised me even in this
dress, and it was wise to make a friend of him. Then I wanted a guide,
and I was well assured he knew the way, if any man did. He is a surly
scoundrel, however, and appears to have changed his character, since I
was a boy."

"If there be any change, Bob, it is in yourself. Nick has been Nick
these thirty years, or as long as I have known him. Rascal he is, or
his tribe would not have cast him out. Indian justice is stern, but it
is natural justice. No man is ever put to the ban among the red men,
until they are satisfied he is not fit to enjoy savage rights. In
garrison, we always looked upon Nick as a clever knave, and treated him
accordingly. When one is on his guard against such a fellow, he can do
little harm, and this Tuscarora has a salutary dread of me, which keeps
him in tolerable order, during his visits to the Hut. The principal
mischief he does here, is to get Mike and Jamie deeper in the Santa
Cruz than I could wish; but the miller has his orders to sell no more
rum."

"I hardly think you do Nick justice, Willoughby," observed the right-
judging and gentle wife. "He has _some_ good qualities; but you
soldiers always apply martial-law to the weaknesses of your fellow-
creatures."

"And you tender-hearted women, my dear Wilhelmina, think everybody as
good as yourselves."

"Remember, Hugh, when your son, there, had the canker-rash, how
actively and readily the Tuscarora went into the forest to look for the
gold-thread that even the doctors admitted cured him. It was difficult
to find, Robert; but Nick remembered a spot where he had seen it, fifty
miles off; and, without a request even, from us, he travelled that
distance to procure it."

"Yes, this is true"--returned the captain, thoughtfully--"though I
question if the cure was owing to the gold-thread, as you call it,
Wilhelmina. Every man has some good quality or other; and, I much fear,
some bad ones also.--But, here is the fellow coming back, and I do not
like to let him think himself of sufficient consequence to be the
subject of our remarks."

"Very true, sir--it adds excessively to the trouble of such fellows, to
let them f