Page:Nattie Nesmith (1870).pdf/155

 "We don't have much company, do we, Fox Heart?" she asked.

"You know as well as I that we don't," said the boy, who was trimming a little basket which he had just made, by cutting off, with a pair of dull shears, the projecting sticks around the rim.

"Black-bird said once, that, when the chiefs got home to their families there would be visiting," said Nattie, trying to help Fox Heart at his work.

Light-foot and little Sweet Fern were near by, to pick up the sticks as they fell, and form of them what they called trees, wigwams, animals and men. This was a favorite amusement with the two young papooses.

"I wish that somebody would come," continued Nattie, "for I get lonesome."

"Pappy is troubled," said Fox Heart, "and the sight of folks makes him worse, so they don't come to see him."

"What is the matter with him?" asked Nattie, in a whisper, and with a cautious glance toward