now and then be a little in the wrong; for, by so doing, he
defends his own home and family, rights and liberty,--objects that
should be as dear to him as life itself."

"O uncle!" exclaimed Ned with a start, as if he had just caught a
passing recollection by the tail as it was about skedaddling round the
corner, "tell me, will you? what kind of a life a charmed life is."

"Really Ned," cried Uncle Juvinell, "I am very glad that you mentioned
it; for it puts me in mind of something I should have told you before,
and which I might else have forgotten. This, however, is as good a
time as any; and, when you hear what I am now going to tell you, you
will readily understand, without further explanation, what is meant
when it is said of a man that he bears a charmed life about him. To do
this, I must anticipate a little, or, to speak more clearly, take time
by the forelock, and, going forward a little in our story, tell you of
a circumstance which your Uncle Juvinell, when a boy, often heard
related by Dr. Craik, who was then an aged and venerable man.

"Fifteen years after poor Braddock had been laid in his unhonored
grave, Col. Washington, taking with him his friend Dr. Craik, went on
an exploring expedition to the Ohio, in behalf of the brave soldiers
who had served under him at the Great Meadows, and to whom, it must be
remembered, Gov. Dinwiddie had promised two hundred thousand acres of
the best land to be found on this great river or its branches. There
was peace then along the border, and little or no danger was to be
apprehended from the Indians. They travelled in a large canoe, rowed
by two or three hunters; and what with fishing in the streams (for
they took with them their fishing tackle), what with hunting in the
woods (for they took with them their hunting rifles), what with
camping on the green shore at night (for they took with them their
camp utensils), and what with the comfortable thought that there was
not an Indian warrior within a hundred miles whose fingers were
itching for their scalps (for they took with them this and many other
pleasant thoughts besides), they had, you may depend upon it, a
glorious time.

"One day, there came to their camp, at the mouth of the Great Kanawha,
a party of Indians, headed by an old chief of grave and venerable
aspect, who approached Washington with deep reverence, as if entering
the presence of some superior being. After several pipes of tobacco
had been smoked, an