peculiarly mean and contemptible. Years
before, when the State of Ohio was more thinly
settled, the deacon had joined a party of hunters
who had brought a bear to bay. Old Boone
was no experienced woodsman, but was vain
and fond of applause, and perhaps had a
notion that sylvan prowess ran in his blood
as a kinsman of the great Nimrod, Daniel
Boone; and he rashly approached the
desperate animal, and was caught in its dangerous
embrace.

"I've heerd tell," said Miss Esther, "that the
sight wur horrid. There wur the b'ar, with red
eyes glitrin' with rage, and a mouth full of blood
and foam, and the deacon faintin' with fright
and the hug he got, and never a man durst fire,
for fear they'd miss the beast and hit the man.
But our Joe—a mere boy then—what does he
do but run in with his hunting-knife, and soon
med the b'ar drop the deacon and tackle to him.
That war a tussle, mister, for a b'ar takes a deal
of killin', and when they brought back our Joe
here, he war tore to bits and all blood. You
may see the great scar on his forehead yet, whar
the b'ar's claws scratched him, jest as he drove
the knife to its heart. T'ain't every big man in
the settlements, let alone a lad, cares to face a
b'ar with on'y the knife; and no wonder the
deacon allays petted Joe arterwards, and used
to take a pleasure in seein' him and Susan
together, and sayin' they'd make a handsome
couple, and so they might, if 'twarn't for this
weary ile."

At that moment in came Joe, moody and careworn.
In answer to the question whether he
had shot the deer, he rejoined bitterly that he
had not, and did not care whether he never shot
another.

"I know what's amiss," said his aunt, glancing
up in her keen way. "You've seen Susan
Boone, and she's vexed you."

"Hush, aunty!" said the young farmer, looking
askance at me; but Miss Esther assured him
that my presence need be no restraint, for she
had told me all about it.

"You hev?" the young man exclaimed, with
an angry stamp of his massive foot on the floor.
But almost instantly his frank face relaxed into
its usual good-humoured look, and he said, with
a sad sort of laugh:

"I oughter remember she folks were born to
chatter, special them that hail from down eastway.
And, arter all, I'm noways ashamed o' my
share in the bizniss."

"You have no cause to be, I am sure," said
I, half apologetically, "and I hope I am not
intrusive when I say that, quite apart from the
kind service you have rendered me, my best
wishes would go with you."

The young woodsman stretched out his mighty
hand, grasped mine, and gave it a friendly
squeeze that seemed to make every joint and
sinew crack. It hurt me, rather, but there was
no mistaking the kindly intention.

"Thank'ee, mister," said Joe; "but I reckon
I'm an onlucky coon. I some fear I air. This
ile that's a fortin to thousands, air jest perdition
to me. Bad enough the deacon should be huffy
and queer, but Susan! She hadn't oughter—she
hadn't oughter sot more store on a pocketful of
dollars than an honest man's heart. I met her,
jest now, at the door of the schoolhouse where
the children hev been larnin' hymn-singing, and
she most scorned to give me a look—she, that
I've known sin' we were both little trots of six
year old!"

"War she alone?" asked Aunt Esther, in a
quick snappish voice.

"Wall, no," said Joe, reluctantly; "her
parents war followin', and she war walkin' along
of a smart town chap, one I know by head
mark, Mr. Peter Clovis Tapper, the lawyer to
Lanesville. Such a dandy fellow, with rings
and yaller gloves, and scent on his white
cambric hankercher; no wonder she couldn't see
me."

The manly young fellow cast a glance, half
proud, half depreciating, on his plain working
garb and brown muscular hands. Miss Esther
thereupon expressed her fears that Mr. Tapper
was a new suitor, favoured by Susan's parents,
who were bent on throwing off the former
engagement.

"If I re'ely thought so," said Joe, "that
pretty dressed lawyer and me might hev words,
we might."

As I saw the dark flush of wrath that
crimsoned the backwoodsman's sun-browned face,
making the scar of the bear's claw ominously
white and clear on his broad honest brow;
and as I noticed how the long rifle vibrated in
the grasp of his strong fingers; I thought Peter
Clovis Tapper, attorney-at-law, might wince a
little at the prospect of "words" with the man
he had supplanted.

Mallory, however, like most men of genuine
bravery, was remarkably modest and quiet in his
general demeanour, and his threatening mood
passed away very quickly. He said that Susan
was very young, that girls were apt to be
fanciful, and that he should go on believing her
true to him and her plight until he received his
dismissal from her own lips. Then he broke
away from the subject, talked of my health, and
congratulated me on being in Miss Esther's
care: declaring what I am sure was true, that
the old lady had not her equal in the county for
bone-setting and bandaging. Happily, I did not
find it necessary to test her skill in the former
branch of art; my bruises were gradually
reduced, and, but for my sprained ankle, I could
soon have proceeded on my journey well enough.
As it was, my hurt progressed but slowly towards
recovery: sprains are tedious things, and I
found a slight imprudence undid the good work
of days. However, thanks to Miss Esther's
washes and drops, thanks to wet bandages and the
healing force of nature, I was soon able to walk
in a weak slow way, with assistance. Sometimes
I had the aid of Joe's strong arm, sometimes of
old Terence's, and now and then black Phillis was
commissioned to help my progress through the
village or across the yard where the turkeys and
fowls, her especial charge, gobbled and clucked