Page 44 - A Hero of Ticonderoga

A grunt of surprise caught his attention, and, looking up, he saw the two
Indians at the door, staring with puzzled faces on the strange scene. Then

one, with a hatchet half uplifted, cautiously approached the grim head,
which, after an instant’s scrutiny, he touched with his hatchet and then with

his finger.

"He dead. You boy do dat?" And Nathan told him all the adventure. The

Indian gave the boy an approving pat on the head that made Nathan’s scalp
shiver.

"You big Nad-yal-we-no. Too much good for be Pastoniac. You come ’long
me to Yam-as-ka, I make you Waubanakee. Den be good for sometings.

Nawaa," he said to his companion, and the other coming in, the two
reached down and laid hold of the bear’s forelegs, and when, by their

instructions, Nathan lifted the door, they dragged the limp, shaggy carcass
out upon the floor.

When the full proportions of the huge brute were revealed, the boy’s
rejoicings broke forth anew, just as his father and the hired man came

hurrying in, when he received fresh praise for his deed. The dinner was
bounteous, if late, and the Indians, Toksoose and Tahmont, had their full
share of it, with a big chunk of pork and as much bear’s meat as they cared

to take, which was small, since they liked better the daintier meat of the
musquash, wherewith their trapping afforded them an ample supply.

When toward nightfall the mother returned, she was told the story by the
victors, and with equal delight was it rehearsed when Job happened to

come, and the unstinted praise of the old hunter was sweetest of all. Many a
day was the tale rehearsed for the benefit of new listeners. Even when

Nathan was an old man, and looked back on the many adventures of his
life, not one stood forth so clearly in the haze of the past as this adventure
with the bear, wherein he had borne the chief part.