376 TEAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPOKT. 



" Come, young redskin," cried the other ; " come 

 along. You shall help us to fight the cussed Brit- 

 ishers, and drink, ay, drink like a fish." 



By this time the little group was surrounded by 

 deserters from the parade-ground, examining the In- 

 dian with a rude and unceremonious, but not an ill- 

 natured, curiosity. Without permission or apology 

 they inspected his wardrobe, tried the edge of his 

 scalping-knife, examined his mocassins, and one of 

 them even made an attempt to remove the cap from 

 his head. By these various investigations the stranger 

 seemed more surprised than gratified. His exterior 

 was, it must be confessed, somewhat singular. A fox- 

 skin cap covered his head and extended down over 

 his ears, concealing his light-brown hair, an attempt 

 at disguise which the long fair down upon his upper 

 lip rendered tolerably unsuccessful. His deerskin 

 doublet denoted the Indian, but his trousers were 

 those of a white man. One of his mocassins the 

 other he had left in some swamp was of Indian 

 workmanship ; one of his cheeks was still daubed 

 with the red and black war-paint, which had been 

 nearly rubbed off the other ; his hands, although 

 burnt brown by the sun, Avere those of a white man. 

 If any doubt could have remained, his features would 

 have settled it ; the bold blue eye could no more have 

 belonged to an Indian than could the full rosy cheek 

 and the well-formed mouth. The crowd stared at 

 him with the same sort of stupefaction which they 



