nelope's protector, now quite
an old man, was very friendly and sociable, and often used to visit Mrs.
Stout. This friendship for the woman whom he had saved from death seemed
to have been strong and sincere.

One day this old Indian came to the house of Mrs. Stout, and, seating
himself in the room where she was, remained for a long time pensive and
silent. This rather unusual conduct made Penelope fear that something
had happened to him; and she questioned him, asking him why he was so
silent, and why he sighed so often. Then the old man spoke out and told
her that he had come on a very important errand, in which he had risked
his own life at the hands of his tribe; but, having saved her life once,
he had determined to do it again, no matter what might happen to
himself.

Then he told her that the good will of the Indians toward their white
neighbors had come to an end, and that it had been determined in council
that an attack should be made that night upon this little village, when
every person in it--men, women, and children--should be put to death,
the houses burned, and the cattle driven away. His brethren no longer
wanted white people living near them.

Of course, this news was a great shock to Penelope. She had now two
little children, and she could not get far away with them and hide, as
she herself had once hidden from Indian foes. But the old man told her
that she need not be afraid: he could not save all the people in the
village, but he was her friend, and he had arranged to save her and her
family. At a certain place, which he described so she could not fail to
find it, he had concealed a canoe; and in that she and her husband, with
the children, could go over to New Amsterdam, and there would be plenty
of time for them to get away before the Indians would attack the place.
Having said this, and having urged her to lose no time in getting away,
the old Indian left.

As soon as he had gone, Penelope sent for her husband, who was working
in the fields, and told him what she had heard, urging him to make
preparations instantly to escape with her. But Mr. Stout was not easily
frightened by news such as this. He pooh-poohed the whole story, and
told his wife that the natives over there in their camp were as well
disposed and friendly as if they had been a company of white settlers,
and that, as these red men and the whites had lived together so long,
trading with each other, and visiting each other with perf