The Dutch on the Delaware. 315 



ye world." This is pleasant reading. Think of 

 being " utterly ruined" for nine years, and then 

 bobbing up serenely in a lawsuit and winning it ! 

 But better news awaited me. About the same 

 time the two men living in the island house were 

 murdered. I was delighted, and hurried back to 

 the island. To think of murder and a state of 

 siege and all the wild tumult of midnight sur- 

 prises having happened so near home! Hereto- 

 fore the Delaware Indian, except among the 

 mountains and in far later times, has seemed a 

 commonplace creature, that gave way to Dutch, 

 Swedes, and Englishmen without a murmur. Now 

 I know better, and every arrow-point and stone 

 axe is of added interest. 



Having gathered the relics that the floods had 

 scattered, I commenced to dig, and soon brought 

 it all to light. But let me not anticipate. I would 

 that some one had written a learned essay on the 

 art of digging. It is something more than mere 

 shovelling of dirt, pitching aside with a spade sand, 

 gravel, and clay. It may mean important dis- 

 covery at any moment and the bringing again to 

 light of day of long-buried treasure. This is a 



