outside view, the dwelling, nevertheless, was
water-proof and comfortable, and abundantly answered the end for which
it was built.

A thin vapor was ascending in a bluish spiral at the top of the lodge
indicated. A Shawnee squaw was occupied in preparing the morning meal,
while her liege lord still reclined in one corner, in the vain effort
to secure a few minutes more of slumber. This latter personage was
Hans Vanderbum--our friend Hans--a huge, plethoric, stolid, lazy
Dutchman, who had "married" an Indian widow several years before. At
the time of her marriage this squaw had a boy some three or four years
of age, while a second one, the son of the Dutchman, was now just large
enough to be as mischievous as a kitten. They were a couple of greasy,
copper-hued little rascals, with eyes as black as midnight, and long,
wiry hair, like that of a horse's mane. Brimful of animal spirits,
they were just the reverse of Hans Vanderbum, whose laziness and
stupidity were only excelled by his indifference to the dignity and
rights of human nature.

Hans Vanderbum lay fiat upon his back, for the atmosphere of the wigwam
was too warm for covering, his ponderous belly rising and falling like
a wave of the sea, and his throat giving forth that peculiar rattling
of the glottis, which might be mistaken for suffocation. The boys
certainly would have been outside, basking in the genial sunshine, had
not their mother, Keewaygooshturkumkankangewock, positively denied them
that coveted privilege. The commands of the father might be trampled
upon with impunity, but the young half-breeds knew better than to
disobey their mother.

"Shtop dat noise! shtop dat noise!" repeated Hans, raising his head
without stirring his body or limbs.

His broad face seemed all ablaze from its fiery red color, and the
threatening fury throned upon his lowering forehead would almost have
annihilated him who encountered it for the first time. As it was, the
two boys suddenly straightened their faces, and assumed an air of meek
penitence, as if suffering the most harrowing remorse for what they had
done; and the father, after glaring at them a moment, as if to drive in
and clinch the impression he had made, let his head drop back with a
dull thump upon the ground, and again closed his eyes.

The black, snaky orbs of the boys twinkled like stars through their
overhanging hair. Glancing first at their mother, who did not deign to
notice them, the eldest