e path
with her, much less to carry her bundles. I'll answer for it, ye're a
great liar, now, ould Nick, in the bottom of your heart."

"Nick great liar," answered the Indian, good-naturedly; for he so well
knew this was his common reputation, that he saw no use in denying it.
"What of dat? Lie good sometime."

"That's another! Oh, ye animal; I've a great mind to set upon ye at
once, and see what an honest man can do wid ye, in fair fight! If I
only knew what ye'd got about yer toes, now, under them fine-looking
things ye wear for shoes, once, I'd taich ye to talk of the missus, in
this style."

"Speak as well as he know how. Nick never been to school. Call 'e
squaw, _good_ squaw. What want more?"

"Get out! If ye come a foot nearer, I'll be at ye, like a dog upon a
bull, though ye gore me. What brought ye into this paiceful sittlement,
where nothing but virtue and honesty have taken up their abode?"

What more Mike might have said is not known, as Nick caught a sign from
the captain, and went loping across the flat, at his customary gait,
leaving the Irishman standing on the defensive, and, to own the truth,
not sorry to be rid of him. Unfortunately for the immediate
enlightenment of Mike's mind, Joel overheard the dialogue, and
comprehending its meaning, with his native readiness, he joined his
companion in a mood but little disposed to clear up the error.

"Did ye see that _crathure_?" asked Mike, with emphasis.

"Sartain--he is often seen here, at the Hut. He may be said to live
here, half his time."

"A pritty hut, then, ye must have of it! Why do ye tolerate the
vagabond? He's not fit for Christian society."

"Oh! he's good company, sometimes, Mike. When you know him better,
you'll like him better. Come; up with the bundles, and let us follow.
The captain is looking after us, as you see."

"Well may he look, to see us in sich company!--Will he har-r-m the
missus?"

"Not he. I tell you, you'll like him yourself when you come to know
him."

"If I do, burn me! Why, he says _himself_, that he's Ould Nick,
and I'm sure I never fancied the crathure but it was in just some such
for-r-m. Och! he's ill-looking enough, for twenty Ould Nicks."

Lest the reader get an exaggerated notion of Michael's credulity, it
may be well to say that Nick had painted a few days before, in a fit of
caprice, and that one-half of his face was black, and the other a deep
red, while each of his eyes was surrounded with a circle