Chapter XIX.

by James Fenimore Cooper

　　And stretching out, on either hand, O'er all that wide and unshorn land, Till weary of its gorgeousness, The aching and the dazzled eye Rests, gladdened, on the calm, blue sky. --WHITTIER.No other disturbance occurred in the course of the night. With thedawn, le Bourdon was again stirring; and as he left the palisades torepair to the run, in order to make his ablutions, he saw Peterreturning to Castle Meal. The two met; but no allusion was made tothe manner in which the night had passed. The chief paid hissalutations courteously; and, instead of repairing to his skins, hejoined le Bourdon, seemingly as little inclined to seek for rest, asif just arisen from his lair. When the bee-hunter left the spring,this mysterious Indian, for the first time, spoke of business.

　　"My brother wanted to-day to show Injin how to find honey," saidPeter, as he and Bourdon walked toward the palisades, within whichthe whole family was now moving. "I nebber see honey find, myself,ole as I be."

　　"I shall be very willing to teach your chiefs my craft," answeredthe bee-hunter, "and this so much the more readily, because I do notexpect to practyse it much longer, myself; not in this part of thecountry, at least."

　　"How dat happen?--expec' go away soon?" demanded Peter, whose keen,restless eye would, at one instant, seem to read his companion'ssoul, and then would glance off to some distant object, as ifconscious of its own startling and fiery expression. "Now Br'ish gotDetroit, where my broder go? Bess stay here, I t'ink."

　　"I shall not be in a hurry, Peter; but my season will soon be up,and I must get ahead of the bad weather, you know, or a bark canoewill have but a poor time of it on Lake Huron. When am I to meet thechiefs, to give them a lesson in finding bees?"

　　"Tell by-'em-by. No hurry for dat. Want to sleep fuss. See so muchbetter, when I open eye. So you t'ink of makin' journey on longpath. If can't go to Detroit, where can go to?"

　　"My proper home is in Pennsylvania, on the other side of Lake Erie.It is a long path, and I'm not certain of getting safely over it inthese troubled times. Perhaps it would be best for me, however, toshape at once for Ohio; if in that state I might find my way roundthe end of Erie, and so go the whole distance by land."

　　The bee-hunter said this, by way of throwing dust into the Indian'seyes, for he had not the least intention of travelling in thedirection named. It is true, it was his most direct course, and theone that prudence would point out to him, under all thecircumstances, had he been alone. But le Bourdon was no longeralone--in heart and feelings, at least. Margery now mingled with allhis views for the future; and he could no more think of abandoningher in her present situation, than he could of offering his ownperson to the savages for a sacrifice. It was idle to think ofattempting such a journey in company with the females, and most ofall to attempt it in defiance of the ingenuity, perseverance, andhostility of the Indians. The trail could not be concealed; and, asfor speed, a party of the young men of the wilderness wouldcertainly travel two miles to Margery's one.

　　Le Bourdon, notwithstanding Pigeonswing's remonstrances, still hadhis eye on the Kalamazoo. He remembered the saying, "that waterleaves no trail," and was not without hopes of reaching the lakeagain, where he felt he should be in comparative security; his owncanoe, as well as that of Gershom, being large, well fitted, and notaltogether unsuited to those waters in the summer months. As itwould be of the last importance, however, to get several hours'start of the Indians, in the event of his having recourse to such amode of flight, it was of the utmost importance also to conceal hisintentions, and, if possible, to induce Peter to imagine his eyeswere turned in another direction.

　　"Well, s'pose go dat way," answered the chief, quietly, as ifsuspecting no artifice. "Set 'bout him by-'em-by. Today muss teachInjin how to find honey. Dat make him good friend; and maybe he helpmy pale-face broders back to deir country. Been better for ebberybody, if none come here, at all."

　　Thus ended the discourse for that moment. Peter was not fond of muchtalking, when he had not his great object in view, but rather kepthis mind occupied in observation. For the next hour, every one inand about Castle Meal was engaged in the usual morning avocations,that of breaking their fasts included; and then it was understoodthat all were to go forth to meet the chiefs, that le Bourdon mightgive a specimen of his craft.

　　One, ignorant of the state of political affairs on the Americancontinent, and who was not aware of the vicinity of savages, wouldhave seen nothing that morning, as the party proceeded on its littleexcursion, in and around that remote spot, but a picture of ruraltranquillity and peace. A brighter day never poured its glories onthe face of the earth; and the Openings, and the glades, and eventhe dark and denser forests, were all bathed in the sunlight, asthat orb is known to illuminate objects in the softer season of theyear, and in the forty-third degree of latitude. Even the birdsappeared to rejoice in the beauties of the time, and sang andfluttered among the oaks, in numbers greater than common. Natureusually observes a stern fitness in her adaptation of means to ends.Birds are to be found in the forests, on the prairies, and in thestill untenanted openings of the west--and often in countlessnumbers; more especially those birds which fly in flocks, and lovethe security of unoccupied regions--unoccupied by man is meant--wherein to build their nests, obey the laws of their instincts, andfulfil their destinies. Thus, myriads of pigeons, and ducks, andgeese, etc., are to be found in the virgin woods, while thecompanionable and friendly robin, the little melodious wren, thethrush, the lark, the swallow, the marten, and all those pleasantlittle winged creatures, that flit about our dwellings and grounds,and seem to be sent by Providence, expressly to chant their morningand evening hymns to God in our ears, most frequent the peopleddistricts. It has been said by Europeans that the American birds aremute, in comparison with those of the Old World. This is true, to acertain extent, as respects those which are properly called forestbirds, which do, in general, appear to partake of the sombrecharacter that marks the solemn stillness of their native haunts. Itis not true, however, with the birds which live in our fields, andgrounds, and orchards, each of which sings its song of praise, andrepeats its calls and its notes, as richly and as pleasantly to theear, as the birds of other lands. One large class, indeed, possessesa faculty that enables it to repeat every note it has ever heard,even to some of the sounds of quadrupeds. Nor is this done in thediscordant tones of the parrot; but in octaves, and trills, and inrich contra-altos, and all the other pleasing intonations known tothe most gifted of the feathered race. Thus it is, that one Americanmocking-bird can outsing all the birds of Europe united.

　　It seemed that morning as if every bird that was accustomed to gleanits food from the neighborhood of Castle Meal was on the wing, andready to accompany the party that now sallied forth to catch thebee. This party consisted of le Bourdon, himself, as its chief andleader; of Peter, the missionary, and the corporal. Margery, too,went along; for, as yet, she had never seen an exhibition of Boden'speculiar skill. As for Gershom and his wife, they remained behind,to make ready the noontide meal; while the Chippewa took hisaccoutrements, and again sallied out on a hunt. The whole time ofthis Indian appeared to be thus taken up; though, in truth, venisonand bear's meat both abounded, and there was much less necessity forthose constant efforts than he wished to make it appear. In goodsooth, more than half his time was spent in making thoseobservations, which had led to the advice he had been urging on hisfriend, the bee-hunter, in order to induce him to fly. HadPigeonswing better understood Peter, and had he possessed a clearerinsight into the extent and magnitude of his plans of retributivevengeance, it is not probable his uneasiness, at the moment, wouldhave been so great, or the urgency for an immediate decision on thepart of le Bourdon would have appeared as urgently pressing as itnow seemed to be.

　　The bee-hunter took his way to a spot that was at some distance fromhis habitation, a small prairie of circular form, that is nowgenerally known in that region of the country by the name of PrairieRound. Three hours were necessary to reach it, and this so much themore, because Margery's shorter steps were to be considered.Margery, however, was no laggard on a path. Young, active, light offoot, and trained in exertions of this nature, her presence did notprobably retard the arrival many minutes.

　　The extraordinary part of the proceedings was the circumstance, thatthe bee-hunter did not tell any one whither he was going, and thatPeter did not appear to care about putting the question to him.Notwithstanding this reserve on one side, and seeming indifferenceon the other, when the party reached Prairie Round, every one of thechiefs who had been present at the council of the previous night,was there before it. The Indians were straggling about, but remainedsufficiently near the point where the bee-hunter and his followersreached the prairie, to assemble around the group in a very fewminutes after it made its appearance.

　　All this struck le Bourdon as fearfully singular, since it provedhow many secret means of communication existed between the savages.That the inmates of the habitations were closely observed, and alltheir proceedings noted, he could not but suspect, even beforereceiving this proof of Peter's power; but he was not aware untilnow, how completely he and all with him were at the mercy of theseformidable foes. What hope could there be for escape, when hundredsof eyes were thus watching their movements, and every thicket hadits vigilant and sagacious sentinel? Yet must flight be attempted,in some way or other, or Margery and her sister would be hopelesslylost--to say nothing of himself and the three other men.

　　But the appearance of the remarkable little prairie that he had justreached, and the collection of chiefs, now occupied all the presentthoughts of le Bourdon. As for the first, it is held in repute, evenat the present hour, as a place that the traveller should see,though covered with farms, and the buildings that belong tohusbandry. It is still visited as a picture of ancient civilization,placed in the setting of a new country. It is true that very littleof this part of Michigan wears much, if any, of that aspect of arough beginning, including stubs, stumps, and circled trees, that ithas so often fallen to our share to describe. There are denseforests, and those of considerable extent; and wherever the axe isput into them, the progress of improvement is marked by the samesteps as elsewhere; but the lovely openings form so many exceptions,as almost to compose the rule.

　　On Prairie Round there was even a higher stamp of seemingcivilization--seeming, since it was nature, after all, that hadmainly drawn the picture. In the first place, the spot had beenburnt so recently, as to leave the entire expanse covered with younggrasses and flowers, the same as if it were a well-kept park. Thisfeature, at that advanced period of the summer, was in some degreeaccidental, the burning of the prairies depending more or less oncontingencies of that sort. We have now less to do with the cause,than with its consequences. These were most agreeable to the eye, aswell as comfortable to the foot, the grass nowhere being of a heightto impede movement, or, what was of still more importance to leBourdon's present pursuit, to overshadow the flowers. Aware of thisfact, he had led his companions all that distance, to reach thisscene of remarkable rural beauty, in order that he might make agrand display of his art, in presence of the assembled chiefs ofthat region. The bee-hunter had pride in his craft, the same as anyother skilful workman who had gained a reputation by his cunning,and he now trod the prairie with a firmer step, and a more kindlingeye, than was his wont in the commoner haunts of his calling. Menwere there whom it might be an honor to surprise, and pretty Margerywas there also, she who had so long desired to see this veryexhibition.

　　But to revert once more to the prairie, ere we commence thenarrative of what occurred on it. This well-known area is of nogreat extent, possessing a surface about equal to that of one of thelarger parks of Europe. Its name was derived from its form, which,without being absolutely regular, had so near an approach to acircle as to justify the use of the appellation. The face of thischarming field was neither waving, or what is called "rolling," nora dead flat, as often occurs with river bottoms. It had just enoughof undulation to prevent too much moisture, and to impart anagreeable variety to its plain. As a whole, it was clear of theforest; quite as much so as if the axe had done its work there athousand years before, though wood was not wanting. On the contrary,enough of the last was to be seen, in addition to that which formedthe frame of this charming landscape, to relieve the view from allappearance of monotony, and to break it up into copses, thickets,trees in small clusters, and in most of the varieties that embellishnative scenery. One who had been unexpectedly transferred to thespot, might well have imagined that he was looking on the site ofsome old and long-established settlement, from which every applianceof human industry had been suddenly and simultaneously abstracted.Of houses, out-buildings, fences, stacks, and husbandry, there wereno signs; unless the even and verdant sward, that was spread like avast carpet, sprinkled with flowers, could have been deemed a signof the last. There were the glades, vistas, irregular lawns, andwoods, shaped with the pleasing outlines of the free hand of nature,as if consummate art had been endeavoring to imitate our greatmistress in one of her most graceful moods.

　　The Indians present served largely to embellish this scene. Of lateyears, horses have become so common among the western tribes, thevast natural meadows of those regions furnishing the means necessaryto keep them, that one can now hardly form a picture of thosesavages, with-out representing them mounted, and wielding the spear;but such was not the fact with the time of which we are writing, norwas it ever the general practice to go mounted, among the Indians inthe immediate vicinity of the great lakes. Not a hoof of any sortwas now visible, with the exception of those which belonged to aherd of deer, that were grazing on a favorite spot, less than aleague distant from the place where le Bourdon and his companionsreached the prairie. All the chiefs were on foot, and very few wereequipped with more than the knife and tomahawk, the side-arms of achief; the rifles having been secreted, as it might be, in deferenceto the festivities and peaceful character of the occasion. As leBourdon's party was duly provided with rifles, the missionary andMargery excepted, this was a sign that no violence was contemplatedon that occasion at least. "Contemplated," however, is a word veryexpressive, when used in connection with the out-breakings of humanpassions, as they are wont to exhibit themselves among the ignorantand excited. It matters not whether the scene be the capital of someancient European monarchy, or the wilds of America, the workings ofsuch impulses are much the same. Now, a throne is overturned,perhaps, before they who do it are yet fully aware of what theyought to set up in its place; and now the deadly rifle, or themurderous tomahawk is used, more in obedience to the incentives ofdemons, than in furtherance of justly recognized rules of conduct.Le Bourdon was aware of all this, and did not so far confide inappearances, as to overlook the watchfulness that he deemedindispensable.

　　The bee-hunter was not long in selecting a place to set up hisapparatus. In this particular, he was mainly governed by a lovelyexpanse of sweet-scented flowers, among which bees in thousands werehumming, sipping of their precious gifts at will. Le Bourdon had acare, also, not to go far from the forests which encircled theprairies, for among its trees he knew he had to seek the habitationsof the insects. Instead of a stump, or a fallen tree, he hadprepared a light framework of lath, which the corporal bore to thefield for him, and on which he placed his different implements, assoon as he had selected the scene of operations.

　　It will not be necessary for us to repeat the process, which hasalready been described in our opening chapters; but we shall onlytouch such parts of it as have a direct connection with the eventsof the legend. As le Bourdon commenced his preparations, however,the circle of chiefs closed around him, in mute but close attentionto every-thing that passed. Although every one of them had heard ofthe bee-hunters of the pale-faces, and most of them had heard ofthis particular individual of their number, not an Indian presenthad ever seen one of these men practise his craft. This may seemstrange, as respects those who so much roamed the woods; but we havealready remarked that it exceeded the knowledge of the red man tomake the calculations that are necessary to take the bee by theprocess described. Usually, when he obtains honey, it is the resultof some chance meeting in the forest, and not the fruits of thatfar-sighted and persevering industry, which enables the white man tolay in a store large enough to supply a neighborhood, in the courseof a few weeks' hunting.

　　Never was a juggler watched with closer attention, than was leBourdon, while setting up his stand, and spreading his implements.Every grave, dark countenance was turned toward him, and each keen,glistening eye was riveted on his movements. As the vessel with thecomb was set down, the chiefs nearest recognizing the substancemurmured their admiration; for to them it seemed as if the operatorwere about to make honey with honey. Then the glass was a subject ofsurprise: for half of those present had never seen such an utensilbefore. Though many of the chiefs present had visited the"garrisons" of the northwest, both American and English, many hadnot; and, of those who had, not one in ten got any clear idea of thecommonest appliances of civilized life. Thus it was, then, thatalmost every article used by the bee-hunter, though so simple andhomely, was the subject of a secret, but well-suppressed admiration.

　　It was not long ere le Bourdon was ready to look for his bee. Theinsects were numerous on the flowers, particularly on the whiteclover, which is indigenous in America, springing up spontaneouslywherever grasses are permitted to grow. The great abundance of thebees, however, had its usual effect, and our hero was a littledifficult to please. At length, a fine and already half-loadedlittle animal was covered by the glass and captured. This was doneso near the group of Indians, that each and all noted the process.It was curious, and it was inexplicable! Could the pale-faces compelbees to reveal the secret of their hives, and was that encroachingrace about to drive all the insects from the woods and seize theirhoney, as they drove the Indians before them and seized their lands?Such was the character of the thoughts that passed through the mindsof more than one chief, that morning, though all looked on inprofound stillness.

　　When the imprisoned bee was put over the comb, and le Bourdon's capwas placed above all, these simple-minded children of the woods andthe prairies gazed, as if expecting a hive to appear beneath thecovering, whenever the latter should be removed. It was not longbefore the bee "settled," and not only the cap, but the tumbler wastaken away. For the first time since the exhibition commenced, leBourdon spoke, addressing himself to Peter.

　　"If the tribeless chief will look sharply," he said, "he will soonsee the bee take flight. It is filling itself with honey, and themoment it is loaded--look--look--it is about to rise--there, it isup--see it circling around the stand, as if to take a look that itmay know it again--there it goes!"

　　There it did go, of a truth, and in a regular bee-line, or asstraight as an arrow. Of all that crowd, the bee-hunter and Margeryalone saw the insect in its flight. Most of those present lost sightof it, while circling around the stand; but the instant it dartedaway, to the remainder it seemed to vanish into air. Not so with leBourdon and Margery, however. The former saw it from habit; thelatter from a quick eye, intense attention, and the wish not to missanything that le Bourdon saw fit to do, for her information oramusement. The animal flew in an air-line toward a point of wooddistant fully half a mile, and on the margin of the prairie.

　　Many low exclamations arose among the savages. The bee was gone, butwhither they knew not, or on what errand. Could it have been sent ona message by the pale-face, or had it flown off to give the alarm toits companions, in order to adopt the means of disappointing thebee-hunter? As for the last, he went coolly to work to chooseanother insect; and he soon had three at work on the comb--all incompany, and all uncovered. Had the number anything to do with thecharm, or were these three to be sent to bring back the one that hadalready gone away? Such was the sort of reasoning, and such thequeries put to themselves, by several of the stern children ofnature who were drawn up around the stand.

　　In the mean time le Bourdon proceeded with his operations in theutmost simplicity. He now called Peter and Bear's Meat andCrowsfeather nearer to his person, where they might share withMargery the advantage of more closely seeing all that passed. Assoon as these three chiefs were near enough, Ben pointed to one beein particular, saying in the Indian dialect:

　　"My brothers see that bee in the centre--he is about to go away. Ifhe go after the one that went before him, I shall soon know where tolook for honey."

　　"How can my brother tell which bee will first fly away?" demandedBear's Meat.

　　The bee-hunter was able to foresee this, by knowing which insect hadbeen longest on the comb; but so practised had his eye become, thathe knew with tolerable accuracy, by the movements of the creatures,those that had filled themselves with honey from those that had not.As it did not suit his purpose, however, to let all the minutiae ofhis craft be known, his answer was evasive. Just at that moment athought occurred to him, which it might be well to carry out infull. He had once saved his life by necromancy, or what seemed tothe simple children of the woods to be necromancy, and why might henot turn the cunning of his regular art to account, and render itthe means of rescuing the females, as well as himself, from thehands of their captors? This sudden impulse from that momentcontrolled his conduct; and his mind was constantly casting aboutfor the means of effecting what was now his one great purpose-escape. Instead of uttering in reply to Bear's Meat's question thesimple truth, therefore, he rather sought for such an answer asmight make the process in which he was engaged appear imposing andmystical.

　　"How do the Injins know the path of the deer?" he asked, by way ofreply. "They look at the deer, get to know him, and understand hisways. This middle bee will soon fly."

　　"Which way will he go?" asked Peter. "Can my brother tell us that?"

　　"To his hive," returned le Bourdon, carelessly, as if he did notfully understand the question. "All of them go to their hives,unless I tell them to go in another direction. See, the bee is up!"

　　The chiefs now looked with all their eyes. They saw, indeed, thatthe bee was making its circles above the stand. Presently they lostsight of the insect, which to them seemed to vanish; though leBourdon distinctly traced its flight for a hundred yards. It took adirection at right angles to that of the first bee, flying off intothe prairie, and shaping its course toward an island of wood, whichmight have been of three or four acres in extent, and distant ratherless than a mile.

　　While le Bourdon was noting this flight, another bee arose. Thiscreature flew toward the point of forest, already mentioned as thedestination of the insect that had first risen. No sooner was thisthird little animal out of sight, than the fourth was up, hummingaround the stand. Ben pointed it out to the chiefs; and this timethey succeeded in tracing the flight for, perhaps, a hundred feetfrom the spot where they stood. Instead of following either of itscompanions, this fourth bee took a course which led it off theprairie altogether, and toward the habitations.

　　The suddenly conceived purpose of le Bourdon, to attempt to mystifythe savages, and thus get a hold upon their minds which he mightturn to advantage, was much aided by the different directions takenby these several bees. Had they all gone the same way, theconclusion that all went home would be so very natural and obvious,as to deprive the discovery of a hive of any supernatural merit, atleast; and to establish this was just now the great object the bee-hunter had in view. As it was, the Indians were no wiser, now allthe bees were gone, than they had been before one of them had flown.On the contrary, they could not understand how the flights of somany insects, in so many different directions, should tell the bee-hunter where honey was to be found. Le Bourdon saw that the prairiewas covered with bees, and well knew that, such being the fact, theinmates of perhaps a hundred different hives must be present. Allthis, however, was too novel and too complicated for thecalculations of savages; and not one of those who crowded near, asobservers, could account for so many of the bees going differentways.

　　Le Bourdon now intimated a wish to change his ground. He had notedtwo of the bees, and the only question that remained to be decided,as it respected them, was whether they belonged to the precisepoints toward which they had flown, or to points beyond them. Thereader will easily understand that this is the nature of the factdetermined by taking an angle, the point of intersection between anytwo of the lines of flight being necessarily the spot where the hiveis to be found. So far from explaining this to those around him,however, Boden kept it a secret in his own breast. Margery knew thewhole process, for to her he had often gone over it in description,finding a pleasure in instructing one so apt, and whose tender,liquid blue eyes seemed to reflect every movement of his own souland feelings. Margery he could have taught forever, or fancied forthe moment he could; which is as near the truth as men under theinfluence of love often get. But, as for the Indians, so far fromletting them into any of his secrets, his strong desire was now tothrow dust into their eyes, in all possible ways, and to make theirwell-established character for superstition subservient to his ownprojects.

　　Boden was far from being a scholar, even for one in his class inlife. Down to this hour, the neglect of the means of publicinstruction is somewhat of a just ground of reproach against thevenerable and respectable commonwealth of which he was properly amember, though her people have escaped a knowledge of a great dealof small philosophy and low intriguing, which it is fair to presumethat evil spirits thrust in among the leaves of a more legitimateinformation, when the book of knowledge is opened for theinstruction of those who, by circumstances, are prevented from doingmore than bestowing a few hurried glances at its contents. Still,Ben had read everything about bees on which he could lay his hands.He had studied their habits personally, and he had pondered over thevarious accounts of their communities--a sort of limited monarchy inwhich the prince is deposed occasionally, or when matters go verywrong--some written by really very observant and intelligentpersons, and others again not a little fanciful. Among other booksthat had thus fallen in le Bourdon's way, was one which somewhatminutely described the uses that were made of bees by the ancientsoothsayers in their divinations. Our hero had no notion of revivingthose rites, or of attempting to imitate the particular practices ofwhich he had read and heard; but the recollection of them occurredmost opportunely to strengthen and encourage the design, so suddenlyentertained, of making his present operation aid in opening the wayto the one great thing of the hour--an escape into Lake Michigan.

　　"A bee knows a great deal," said le Bourdon, to his nearestcompanions, while the whole party was moving some distance to takeup new ground. "A bee often knows more than a man."

　　"More than pale-face?" demanded Bear's Meat, a chief who hadattained his authority more by means of physical than ofintellectual qualities.

　　"Sometimes. Pale-faces have gone to bees to ask what will happen.Let me ask our medicine-man this question. Parson Amen, have you anyknowledge of the soothsayers of old using bees when they wished toknow what was about to happen?"

　　Now, the missionary was not a learned man, any more than the bee-hunter; but many an unlearned man has heard of this, and he happenedto be one of the number. Of Virgil, for instance, Parson Amen knewbut little; though in the progress of a very loose, but industriouscourse of reading, he had learned that the soothsayers put greatfaith in bees. His answer was given in conformity with this fact,and in the most perfect good faith, for he had not the smallestsuspicion of what Boden wished to establish.

　　"Certainly--most certainly," answered the well-meaning missionary--"the fortune-tellers of old times often went to their bees when theywished to look into the future. It has been a subject much talked ofamong Christians, to account for the soothsaying, and witchcraft,and other supernatural dealings of those who lived in the times ofthe prophets; and most of them have held the opinion that evilspirits have been--nay, still are permitted to work their will oncertain men in the flesh. But bees were in much favor with thesoothsayers of old."

　　This answer was given in English, and little of it was comprehendedby Peter, and the others who had more or less knowledge of thatlanguage, beyond the part which asserted the agency of bees inwitchcraft. Luckily, this was all le Bourdon desired, and he waswell satisfied at seeing that the idea passed from one chief toanother; those who did not know the English at all, being told bythose who had some knowledge of the tongue, that "bees were thoughtto be 'medicine' among the pale-faces."

　　Le Bourdon gained a great deal of ground by this fortunatecorroboration of his own still more fortunate thought Matters werepretty nearly desperate with him, and with all his friends, shouldPeter really meditate evil; and as desperate diseases notoriouslyrequire remedies of the same character, he was ready to attemptanything that promised even the smallest chance of success.

　　"Yes, yes--" the bee-hunter pursued the discourse by saying--"beesknow a great deal. I have sometimes thought that bees know more thanbears, and my brother must be able to tell something of them?"

　　"Yes; my name is Bear's Meat," answered that chief, complacently."Injin always give name that mean somet'ing. Kill so many bear onewinter, got dat name."

　　"A good name it is! To kill a bear is the most honorable thing ahunter can do, as we all know. If my brother wishes to hear it, Iwill ask my bees when he is to kill another."

　　The savage to whom this was addressed fairly started with delight.He was eagerly signifying his cheerful assent to the proposal, whenPeter quietly interposed, and changed the discourse to himself, in away that he had, and which would not easily admit of denial. It wasapparent to le Bourdon that this mysterious Indian was not contentthat one so direct and impetuous in his feelings as Bear's Meat, andwho was at the same time so little qualified to manage his portionof an intellectual conversation, should be foremost any longer. Forthat reason he brought himself more into the foreground, leaving tohis friend the capacity of listener and observer, rather than thatof a speaker and actor. What took place under this new arrangement,will appear as the narrative proceeds.