you going to stay?" she inquired.
"Yes, I hope so. I am going to teach my young cousins and help my uncle in any way I can. I graduated from Yale last year and went from there to Detroit, but as soon as I heard that Aunt Eleanor was willing to take me in, I started and got here yesterday, just before the storm."
"Did you have a pleasant journey?"
"Yes, fairly so. I came by way of Fort Wayne, with Indian guides and relays of horses."
"Any news?" asked the Captain.
"No, only the usual symptoms of discontent among the Indians. The officers in Detroit think there may be another outbreak soon."
"I don't—there's no earthly reason for it."
"Indians aren't particular about reasons," put in Ronald. "Come along, Robert, we're going over to the Lieutenant's."
When they entered, Mrs. Howard was clearing away the breakfast dishes, and after the introductions were over, Ronald did not hesitate to express his disappointment.
"Get that starving kid some coffee, Kit," said the Lieutenant, and Ronald gladly accepted the steaming cup, with polite regret at the trouble he was causing and with profuse praise of the beverage itself.
"Sugar?" asked Mrs. Howard.
"No, thank you—just put your dainty finger in for a moment, if you will be so kind. Your hand would sweeten the bitterest cup man is called upon to drink. Seems to me I smell pancakes."
He grinned appreciatively at Forsyth as Mrs. Howard went to the iron griddle that swung in the open fireplace. "Not many," he called to her, "six will do very nicely. I don't want to be a pig."
"You are, though," Forsyth assured him in an undertone.
"Shut up!" he replied concisely.
Acting upon the suggestion, Robert turned his attention to his host, and they talked until the pangs of hunger were somewhat satisfied. The Lieutenant and his wife followed them to the door.
"Tell my mother I'm coming over to see her this afternoon," said Mrs. Howard.
"All right," answered Robert. "Who's 'mother'?" he asked, when they got outside.
"Mrs. Mackenzie, of course. Don't you know your own relations when you see 'em? Mrs. Howard is your aunt's daughter and your uncle's step-daughter, so she's your cousin."
"Cousin-in-law, I guess," said Robert. "My father was Uncle John's half-brother, so we're not very closely related. She's nice, though. I wish she were my cousin."
"Coffee doesn't come up to her mother's," soliloquised George, "but it's pretty good. Hello, Doc!" he shouted, to a man on the opposite side of the parade-ground. "Had your breakfast?"
"Good Heavens!" ejaculated Forsyth, "you aren't going to eat again, are you?"
The Ensign turned upon him a look of reproach. "My rations aren't meant for full-grown men," he explained. "If I couldn't get a bite outside occasionally, I'd dry up and blow away. There's a squaw down in the hollow who cooks a pretty good mess, and you can get a bowl of it for a fist of beads. It isn't overly clean, and it's my private opinion it's yellow dog, stewed, or perhaps I should say, curried, but a starving man can't afford to be particular."
"Take me some time," Forsyth suggested carelessly; "I've never eaten dog."
"All right," was the jovial answer, "we'll go. Come on over and meet the Doc."
Robert was duly presented to Doctor Norton, whom the soldier characterised as "the pill roller of the garrison," and soon seized an opportunity to ask him the exact capacity of the human stomach.
"It varies," answered the Doctor, wrinkling his brows in deep thought. "Some people"——
"We must go," George interrupted. "It's time for school."
They parted on the bank of the river, Robert studiously avoiding an opportunity to shake hands. When he entered the house, his pupils were waiting for him.
The room set aside for educational purposes was just off the living-room and a bright fire was burning on the hearth. He found it difficult to teach three grades at once, and soon arranged alternate study and recitation for each, dismissing Maria Indiana in an hour with the first three letters of the alphabet well learned.
The window, like the others in the house, commanded a view of the river and the Fort, and gave a glimpse of the boundless plains beyond. Soldiers went in and out of the stockade, apparently at pleasure, and one or two of them came across, but he looked in vain for the stalwart young officer whom he was proud to call his friend.
At dinner-time he inquired about the neighbours.
"Neighbours?" repeated Mrs. Mackenzie, laughing; "why, we haven't any, except at the Fort."
"Are you and Uncle John really the only people here?" he asked, seriously.
"No, not that. There are a few houses here. Mr. and Mrs. Burns live in one—they are our nearest neighbours—and away up beyond is Lee's place. They don't have anything to do with us, nor we with them. Two or three men and a boy live there, I believe, but we don't see much of them. They're part French and part Indian. Chandonnais used to live with them, and when we came here, he came to us. I guess that's one reason why they don't like us, for Chan's a good boy."
"And Margaret?"
Mrs. Mackenzie's face changed. "Poor old thing," she said sadly, "no one knows where or how she lives. We are not afraid of her, but the Indians are. They wouldn't touch a crazy person under any circumstances."
"Is there a regular Indian settlement here?"
"Yes, there are wigwams all along the river. They are all Pottawattomies and very friendly. The Chippewa and Winnebago tribes are farther north. John has a gift for dealing with the Indians. He has learned their language and their ways, and they treat him as if he were one of them. Did George show you the Fort this morning?"
"Most of it," smiled Forsyth. "We called on the commissioned officers and that young giant ate a hearty breakfast at each place."
"He is the life of the settlement, and I don't know what we'd do without him. I never saw anybody with such an inexhaustible fund of good spirits. Nothing is so bad that George can't get a joke out of it and make us laugh in spite of our trouble. Did you see Doctor Norton?"
"Yes, but only for a moment."
"He's jolly too, and very good to all of us."
"I forgot to tell you when I first came in," said Robert, "but I met Mrs. Howard and she asked me to tell you that she was coming over to see you this afternoon."
"Bless her heart," said Mrs. Mackenzie, tenderly, "she never forgets her old mother."
"You'll never be old, Aunt Eleanor. I believe you have found the fountain of eternal youth."
"What, another flatterer?" she asked, but the heightened colour in her cheeks showed that
