“Is not this, then, Scalping Peter, who bears so terrible a name on all this frontier?” demanded le Bourdon.

“The same; but do not disturb yourself with names:  they hurt no one, and will soon be forgotten.  A descendant of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, is not placed in the wilderness by the hand of divine power for no purpose; since he is here, rely on it, it is for good.”

“A descendant of Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob!  Is not Peter, then, a red-skin and an Injin?”

“Certainly; though no one knows his tribe but himself.  I know it, friend bee-hunter, and shortly shall proclaim it throughout the length and breadth of the land.  Yes, it has been given to me to make this important discovery, though I sometimes think that Peter himself is really as ignorant as all around him of the tribe to which he properly belongs.”

“Do you wish to keep it a secret from me, too?  I own that, in my eyes, the tribe of a red-skin goes a good way in making up my opinions of the man.  Is he a Winnebagoe?”

“No, my friend, the Winnebagoes have no claims on him at all.”

“Nor a Pottawattamie, Ottawa, or Ojebway of any sort?”

“He is none of these.  Peter cometh of a nobler tribe than any that beareth such names.”

“Perhaps he is an Injin of the Six Nations?  They tell me that many such have found their way hither since the war of the revolution.”

“All that may be true, but Peter cometh not of Pottawattamie, Ottawa, nor Ojebway.”

“He can hardly be of the Sacs or the Foxes; he has not the appearance of an Injin from a region so far west”

“Neither, neither, neither,” answered Parson Amen, now so full of his secret as fairly to let it overflow.  “Peter is a son of Israel; one of the lost children of the land of Judea, in common with many of his red brethren-mind, I do not say all, but with many of his red brethren—­though he may not know exactly of what tribe himself.  This last point has exercised me greatly, and days and nights have I pondered over the facts.  Turn to Genesis XLIX and 14th, and there will you find all the authorities recorded.  ’Zebulon shall dwell at the haven of the sea.’  That refers to some other red brother, nearer to the coast, most clearly.  ’Issachar is a strong ass, crouching down between two burdens’; ’and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.’  That refers, most manifestly, to the black man of the Southern States, and cannot mean Peter.  ’Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path.’  There is the red man for you, drawn with the pencil of truth!  ’Gad, a troop shall overcome him.’  Here, corporal, come this way and tell our new friend how Mad Anthony with his troopers finally routed the red-skins.  You were there, and know all about it.  No language can be plainer:  until the ‘long-knives and leather-stockings’ came into the woods, the red man had his way.  Against them he could not prevail.”