t saying a word.

"Is my son from the West?" said Malachi, in the Indian tongue, after a
silence of one or two minutes.

"The Young Otter is from the West," replied the Indian. "The old men
have told him of the Grey Badger, who has lived the life of a snake, and
who has hunted with the fathers of those who are now old. Does my
father live with the white man?"

"He lives with the white man," replied Malachi; "he has no Injun blood
in his veins."

"Has the white man many in his lodge?" said the Indian.

"Yes; many young men and many rifles," replied Malachi.

The Indian did not continue this conversation, and there was a silence,
of some minutes. Malachi was convinced that the young Indian had been
sent to intimate that Percival was alive and in captivity, and he
resolved to wait patiently till he brought up the subject.

"Does not the cold kill the white man?" said the Indian at last.

"No; the white man can bear the winter's ice as well as an Injun. He
hunts as well, and brings home venison."

"Are all who came here with him now in the white man's lodge?"

"No, not all; one white child slept in the snow, and is in the land of
spirits," replied Malachi.

Here there was a pause in the conversation for some minutes; at last the
young Indian said, "A little bird sang in my ear, and it said, `The
white man's child is not dead; it wandered about in the woods and was
lost, and the Indian found him, and took him to his wigwam in the Far
West.'"

"Did not the little bird lie to the Young Otter?" replied Malachi.

"No; the little bird sung what was true," replied the Indian. "The
white boy is alive and in the lodge of the Indian."

"There are many white men in the country who have children," replied
Malachi; "and children are often lost. The little bird may have sung of
the child of some other white man."

"The white boy had a rifle in his hand, and snow-shoes on his feet."

"So have all they who go out to hunt in the winter's snow," replied
Malachi.

"But the white boy was found near to the white man's lodge."

"Then why was not the boy taken back to the white man by the Indians who
found him?"

"They were going to their own wigwams and could not turn aside; besides,
they feared to come near to the white man's lodge after the sun was
down; as my father says he has many young men and many rifles."

"But the white man does not raise his rifle against the Injun, whether
he comes by day or by night," r