ions so general, so appropriate, and yet too often so
thoughtlessly given upon the anniversary, when Malachi Bone, his little
squaw the Strawberry, and John, entered the door of the hut, laden with
the sports of the forest, which they laid down in the corner of the
kitchen, and then saluted the party.

"Here we are all together on Christmas-day," said Emma, who had taken
the hand of the Strawberry.

The Indian girl smiled, and nodded her head.

"And, John, you have brought us three wild turkeys; you are a good boy,
John," continued Emma.

"If we only had Captain Sinclair here now," said Martin to Emma and Mary
Percival, who was by Emma's side, shaking hands with the Strawberry.

Mary colored up a little, and Emma replied, "Yes, Martin, we do want
him, for I always feel as if he belonged to the family."

"Well, it's not his fault that he's not here," replied Martin; "it's now
more than six weeks since he has left, and if the Colonel would allow
him, I'm sure that Captain Sinclair----"

"Would be here on this day," said Captain Sinclair, who with Mr. Gwynne,
his former companion, had entered the door of the house without being
observed; for the rest of the party were in conversation with Malachi
Bone and John.

"Oh, how glad I am to see you," cried Emma; "we only wanted you to make
our Christmas party complete; and I'm very glad to see you too, Mr.
Gwynne," continued Emma, as she held out a hand to each.

"We had some difficulty in persuading the Colonel to let us come,"
observed Captain Sinclair to Mary; "but as we have heard nothing further
about the Indians, he consented."

"You have nothing more to fear from the Indians this winter, Captain,
and you may tell the Colonel so from me," said Malachi. "I happened to
be on their hunting ground yesterday, and they have broken up and gone
westward, that is, Angry Snake and his party have; I followed their
track over the snow for a few miles just to make sure; they have taken
every thing with them, but somehow or other, I could not find out that
the squaw was with them,--and they had one in their party. They carried
their own packs of fur, that I'll swear to, and they had been thrown
down several times; which would not have been the case, if they had not
been carried by men; for you see, the Injun is very impatient under a
load, which a squaw will carry the whole day without complaining. Now
that party is gone, there is no other about here within fifty miles,
I'll