d; but the colonel declared before the whole camp that
they were innocent. That was making some amends for his suspicions.

_Basil._ Captain Pipe ought to have been ashamed of himself.

_Hunter._ The missionaries went through various trials, and nearly a
hundred Christian Indians--men, women and children--were cruelly
slaughtered; but afterwards the missions began to wear a more
prosperous appearance. I have now kept you longer than usual. The next
time you come here, I will finish my missionary account. Though among
the tribes near the whites great changes have taken place, yet, among
the Indians of the far-west, their customs are but little altered.
They join in the buffalo hunt, assemble in the war-party, engage in
their accustomed games, and smoke the pipe of peace, the same as
ever.

[Illustration: Missionary and Indians.]

CHAPTER XVI.

In the former part of the hunter's relation, Austin Edwards and his
brothers thought of little else than of bluffs and prairies,
buffaloes, bears and beavers, warlike Indian chiefs and the
spirit-stirring adventures of savage life; but the last visit paid to
the cottage had considerably sobered their views. The hunter had
gradually won his way into their affections, by contributing largely
to their amusement; and he had, also, secured their respect and high
opinion, by his serious remarks. They had no doubt of his being a true
friend to Indians, and they had, on that account, listened the more
attentively to what he had advanced on the subject of missionaries.
The knowledge that they were about to hear the end of the hunter's
relation, though it hung a little heavy on their spirits, disposed
them to seriousness and attention.

"And now," said the hunter, as soon as Austin, Brian, and Basil had
seated themselves in his cottage, and requested him to continue his
missionary account, "I will give you the best statement I can, in a
few words, of the number of people who are employed among the Indians
in the missionary cause."

_Austin._ Yes; we shall like to hear that very well.

_Hunter._ The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions
sustain missionary stations among the Cherokees, Choctaws, Pawnees,
Oregon tribes, Sioux, Ojibbewas, Stockbridge tribe, New York tribes
and the Abenaquis. There are twenty-five stations and twenty-three
missionaries, three medical missionaries, three native preachers, two
physicians,