“I’ll be slit if your feet ain’t tied like mine was, in rich a hard knot that no mortal being can git it undone.  I’ll take a chunk, and burn the tarnation string in two,” said Sneak, applying the fire.

“Take care you don’t burn me,” said Joe, looking at the operation with much concern.

Sneak’s plan of severing his companion’s bonds was successful.  Joe sprang in delight from his place of confinement, and, without uttering another word, or pausing a single moment, the liberated companions retreated from grove with all possible expedition.

CHAPTER XV.

Glenn’s History.

The young chief, or rather the restored youth, awoke in a few days from the delirium into which the fever had plunged him, to a state of convalescence and a consciousness of his altered condition.  He now uttered with earnest tenderness the endearing terms of “sister” and “father,” when he addressed Mary and Roughgrove.  He spoke freely of the many things he had witnessed while living with the Indians, expressing his abhorrence of their habits and nature, and declared it was his intention never to have any further intercourse with them.  He promised, when he should be able to leave his bed, to read and study with Mary and Glenn, until he had made amends for the neglect of his education.  These symptoms, and the tractable disposition accompanying them, caused Mary and Roughgrove to rejoice over the return of the long-lost youth, and to bow in humble thankfulness to the Disposer of events for the singular and providential circumstances attending his restoration.

Joe had arrived in due course of time, (which was brief,) after his almost miraculous escape from the savages and the flames, and told his story with various embellishments.  The Indians were hunted the next day by Sneak and a few of the neighbours, but they had doubtless abandoned the settlement, for no traces of them remained after their mysterious flight from the grove.

A few mild days, during which frequent showers had fallen, had in a great measure removed the snow from the earth.  And Joe having soon forgotten his late perilous adventure, amused himself with the horses.  He resolved to make some amends for their long confinement in the stable, and to effect it he galloped them several hours each day over the grounds in the vicinity.  The hounds, too, seemed delighted to place their feet once more on the bare earth, and they were permitted to accompany the horses in all their excursions.

One night, when William, Mary, and Joe were all quietly sleeping, Roughgrove took occasion to express his gratitude to Glenn for the many and important services rendered his family.

“Whatever good may have attended my efforts,” said Glenn, “you may rest assured that I have been amply repaid in the satisfaction enjoyed myself.”

“I am sure of it!” exclaimed Roughgrove; “and it was a conviction that you harboured such sentiments that induced me to confide in you, and to disclose things which I intended should remain for ever locked within my own breast.”