war of the revolution.  His appearance, accordingly, at any Station, was usually the signal for reproach and abuse; the fear of which had driven him almost altogether from the society of his fellowmen, so that he was seldom seen among them, except when impelled by necessity, or when his wanderings in the woods had acquainted him with the proximity of the foes of his persecutors.  His victory over the captain of horse-thieves exposed him, on this occasion, to ruder and angrier remonstrances than usual; which having sought in vain to avert, he sat down in despair, enduring all in silence, staring from one to another of his tormentors with lack-lustre eyes, and playing with the silken hair of his dog.  The approach of the captain of the Station procured him an interval of peace, which he, however, employed only to communicate his troubles to the little cur, that, in his perplexity, he had addressed pretty much as he would have addressed a human friend and adviser:  “Well, Peter,” said he, abstractedly, and with a heavy sigh, “what does thee think of matters and things!” To which question, the ridiculousness of which somewhat mollified the anger of the young men, Peter replied by rubbing his nose against his master’s hand, and by walking a step or two down the hill, as if advising an instant retreat from the inhospitable Station.

“Ay, Peter,” muttered Nathan, “the sooner we go the better; for there are none that makes us welcome.  But nevertheless, Peter, we must have our lead and our powder; and we must tell these poor people the news.”

“And pray, Nathan,” said Colonel Bruce, rousing him from his meditations, “what may your news for the poor people be?  I reckon it will be much wiser to tell it to me than that ’ar brute dog.  You have seen the Jibbenainosay, perhaps, or his mark thar-away on the Kentucky?”

“Nay,” said Nathan.  “But there is news from the Injun towns of a great gathering of Injuns with their men of war in the Miami villages, who design, the evil creatures, marching into the district of Kentucky with a greater army than was ever seen in the land before.”

“Let them come, the brutes,” said the Kentuckian, with a laugh of scorn; “it will save us the trouble of hunting them up in their own towns.”

“Nay,” said Nathan, “but perhaps they have come; for the prisoner who escaped, and who is bearing the news to friend Clark, the General at the Falls, says they were to march two days after he fled from them.”

“And whar did you learn this precious news?”

“At the lower fort of Kentucky, and from the man himself,” said Nathan.  “He had warned the settlers at Lexington—­”

“That’s piper’s news,” interrupted one of the young men.  “Captain Ralph told us all about that; but he said thar war nobody at Lexington believed the story.”

“Then,” said Nathan, meekly, “it may be that the man was mistaken.  Yet persons should have a care, for there is Injun sign all along the Kentucky.  But that is my story.  And now, friend Thomas, if thee will give me lead and powder for my skins, I will be gone, and trouble thee no longer.”