of the small lakes
between one of the tribes here and a war party of Hurons who were out.
They were surprised by the Hurons, and every soul, as far as I could
learn, was either scalped or carried away prisoner. The Hurons had gone
about an hour or two, when I came up to the place where they fought, and
I sat down looking at the dead bodies, and thinking to myself what
creatures men were to deface God's image in that way, when I saw under a
bush two little sharp eyes looking at me; at first, I thought it was
some beast, a lynx, mayhap, as they now call them, and I pointed my
rifle towards it; but before I pulled the trigger, I thought that
perhaps I might be mistaken, so I walked up to the bush, and there I
discovered that it was an Indian child which had escaped the massacre by
hiding itself in the bush. I pulled it out; it was a girl about two
years old, who could speak but a few words. I took her home to my
lodge, and have had her with me ever since, so I don't exactly know what
tribe she belongs to, as they all speak the same tongue. I called her
the `Strawberry,' because I found her under a bush close to the ground,
and among strawberry-plants which were growing there."

"And then you married her," said Percival.

"Married her! no, boy, I never married her; what has an old man of
nearly seventy to do with marrying? They call her my squaw, because
they suppose she is my wife, and she does the duty of a wife to me; but
if they were to call her my daughter, they would be nearer the mark, for
I have been a father to her."

"Well, Malachi, to tell you the truth, I did think that she was too
young to be your wife," said Emma.

"Well, miss, you were not far wrong," replied the old man. "I do wish I
could find out her tribe, but I never have been able, and indeed, from
what I can learn, the party who were surprised came a long way from
this, although speaking the same language; and I don't think there is
any chance now, for even if I were to try to discover it, there have
been so many surprises and so much slaughter within these last twenty
years, that it's scarcely possible the search would be attended with
success."

"But why do you wish to find out her tribe?" said Mary.

"Because I'm an old man, miss, and must soon expect to be gathered to my
fathers, and then this poor little girl will be quite alone, unless I
can marry her to some one before I die: and if I do marry her, why then
she will leave _me_ alone