other day-but see, there he is, with Lucy on his arm, and Aunt Mary, and Wolf by her side!"

As he said this, the young man bounded forward, and in a moment was in the midst of them, kissing his sister, shaking his father and Aunt Mary affectionately by the hand, and patting Wolf's great shaggy head.

"Dear Reginald ! what has kept you so long?" said Lucy, reproachfully; "where can you have been? Why, your clothes are all soiled; and see, papa," she added, turning deadly pale; "there is blood upon his huntingshirt and upon his cheek!"

"What a little coward art thou," said Reginald, "to be the daughter of a soldier! Why, Lucy, the few drops of blood upon my clothes must surely have come from your cheeks, which are as pale as a magnolia flower! Harkee, Lucy, I must do something to drive the rosy current back to its proper channel; come here, girl:" and bending her head aside, he whispered something in her ear.

Never was the effect of magic more rapid,

or more potent; for in an instant the obedient blood rushed to the fair girl's cheek, suffusing at the same time her neck and temples with the same glowing hue; casting upon her brother a look at once playful and appealing, she pinched his ear between her tiny fingers till he fairly begged pardon, and promised not to do so again.

As it was now evident that Reginald was not much hurt, Lucy turned her eyes towards the hunter, who approached, leading Nekimi still snorting, prancing, and curvetting at the full length of his laryette. Baptiste," said the Colonel, "where have you found that wild, untamed animal?"

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"He belongs," said the hunter, "to Master Reginald."

The Colonel looked to his son for an explanation, who giving an arm to his sister, while the Colonel escorted Aunt Mary, turned homewards, and narrated, as they went, the events described in this and the foregoing chapter.

CHAPTER VIII.

CONTAINING A SKETCH OF MOOSHANNE.-REGINALD INTRO

DUCES HIS SISTER TO THE TWO DELAWARES.

THE day following that on which the events related in the preceding pages occurred, there was an assemblage more than usually numerous, gathered in and around the capacious store of David Muir, in Marietta: immediately in front of his door was a small party, who, from their bearing and appearance, might be easily recognised as leading persons in the little community. In the midst of them was a roughlydressed country lad, whose haggard appearance indicated wretchedness or fatigue, or both; near the groupe, stood his horse reeking with sweat, and showing that the messenger, for such he was, had not spared the spurs on the road. Many and eager were the questions put to him,

and the countenances of his auditors evinced no ordinary degree of interest in his replies; several women, and a dozen or two of boys and girls, made repeated endeavours to penetrate into this important circle; and having contrived to overhear a disjointed word, here and there, such as "Indian," "scalped," "rifle," &c., they slunk away, one by one, to spread it abroad through the village, that a neighbouring settlement had been attacked by a large body of Indians, armed with rifles and tomahawks; and that every man, woman, and child, excepting this messenger, who had escaped, was scalped!

We will, however, introduce the reader into the centre of the above-mentioned groupe, and detail to him the substance of the news which created so much excitement.

It appears that on the preceding day, two brothers, named Hervey, were riding homeward, after attending a marriage, at a small settlement twenty miles to the northward of Marietta: they were not above half a mile in advance of several other men, also returning from the marriage; both were armed with rifles,

having been shooting at a target for a wager, when on a sudden, a single Indian, uttering a loud war-whoop, sprang from a thicket by the road, and at one stroke of his war-club felled the elder brother to the earth; before the second could come up to his assistance, the same Indian aimed a sweeping blow at his head with the but-end of his rifle; the younger Hervey warded the blow also with his rifle, but it fell with such force that both barrels were broken off from the stocks; with the rapidity of lightning, the Indian struck him heavily on the head, and he fell stunned from his horse. A few minutes afterwards, he recovered, and found some of his friends standing over him; his unfortunate brother lay dead and scalped at his side; his horse and the Indian had disappeared. Several young men dashed off immediately in pursuit, and tracked the hoofs successfully until the fugitive had entered the hardy and stony bed of a rivulet falling into the Muskingum; hence all further search. proved unsuccessful, and they returned dispirited to their companions.