him proves it. He then was called the 'Gray
Badger.'"

"But is he so very old, do you really think, Martin?"

"I think he has seen more than sixty snows, ma'am; but not many more;
the fact is, his hair was gray before he was twenty years old; he told
me so himself, and that's one reason why the Indians are so fearful of
him. They have it from their fathers that the Gray Badger was a great
hunter, as Malachi was more than forty years ago; so they imagine as his
hair was gray then, he must have been a very old man at that time back,
and so to them he appears to live forever, and they consider him as
charmed, and to use their phrase, 'great _medicine_.' I've heard some
Indians declare that Malachi had seen one hundred and fifty winters, and
they really believe it. I never contradicted them, as you may imagine."

"Does he live comfortably?"

"Yes, ma'am, he does; his squaw knows what he wants, and does what she
is bid. She is very fond of the old man, and looks upon him, as he
really is to her, as a father. His lodge is always full of meat, and he
has plenty of skins. He don't drink spirits, and if he has tobacco for
smoking and powder and ball, what else can he want?"

"Happy are they whose wants are so few," observed Mr. Campbell. "A man
in whatever position in life, if he is content, is certain to be happy.
How true are the words of the poet:--

'Man wants but little here below,
Nor wants that little long!'

Malachi Bone is a happier man than hundreds in England who live in
luxury. Let us profit, my dear children, by his example, and learn to be
content with what Heaven has bestowed upon us. But it is time to retire.
The wind has risen, and we shall have a blustering night. Henry, fetch
me the book."

CHAPTER XX.

Alfred and Martin brought in the wolf which Emma had killed, but it was
frozen so hard that they could not skin it. Poor little Trim was also
carried in, but the ground was too hard frozen for them to bury the
body, so they put it into the snow until the spring, when a thaw would
take place. As for the wolf, they said nothing about it, but they
remained up when the rest of the family retired, and after the wolf had
been some time before the fire, they were able to take off the skin.

On the following morning, when the hunters went out, they were
particularly desired to shoot a wild turkey if they could, as the next
day was Christmas-day.

"Let us take