Page:Nattie Nesmith (1870).pdf/257

 me, and let me hear what you have met since I saw you last, for I feel certain it will have a bearing on the mystery that has come to us."

Thus soothed and encouraged, Augustus drew a chair near his friend, and related the adventures with which the reader is already acquainted. When he stated that it was the wigwam of his father, the brave chief, North Wind, that had been burned in his absence from home, a look of intelligence crossed the face of the young man, who listened, and he hastily inquired:

"Had you not an own sister, a girl of but half Indian blood, tarrying there?"

Augustus Reid shook his head, and said:

"Did I not tell you when I sat here by your fire, a few days ago, that I was the only child of my white mother, and bore her name?"

"Excuse me; I recollect now," said the contractor; "but,"—he hesitated.

The door of the little bed-room now opened, and the young wife came out, bearing her sleep-