Page:Maud Howe - Atlanta in the South.djvu/244

 as he is, that he may say too much if he talks before you. You are, in his eyes, probably a government agent, and he has been taught that they are to be distrusted, even when they make friendly overtures. They fear the Greeks bringing gifts."

"Why, what have the Greeks got to do with the Indians or the government?" queried Robert, filling and lighting his pipe as he spoke.

"Thou didst not love thy studies at school, or thou wouldst not ask. Of the knowledge that is had from books, Robert, thou art sadly ignorant; and in this thou art wrong. There is yet time for thee to cultivate a love of learning; thy mind is good. Like the Indians, thou never forgettest what thou hast seen or heard. I, too, have a keen memory; and how richly is it peopled with the heroes of the poets! When thou art old like me, and canst no more spend thy leisure in hunting and breaking wild horses, how wilt thou pass thy time? Do as I have done, and take from men their noblest inspirations. My solitude has for its companions the men and women born in the dreams of the great writers of the world. In leaving that world behind me, I took with me the best things that it has produced."

The father's speech was here interrupted by an Indian woman, who rushed from the thicket,