Francis Indian to Miss Alger. This Indian is the
well-known Josep Cappino.] he said: "I was asking if any Rabbits are
here, and truly you look very much like one yourself. How did you get
that split nose?" "Oh, that is very simple," replied the old man. "Once
I was hammering wampum beads, and the stone on which I beat them broke
in halves, and one piece flew up, and, as you see, split my nose."
"But," persisted the Wild Cat, "why are the soles of your feet so yellow,
even like a Rabbit's?" "Ah, that is because I have been preparing some
tobacco, and I had to hold it down with my feet, for, truly, I needed
both my hands to work with. So the tobacco stained them yellow." Then
the Wild Cat suspected no more, and the Doctor put salve on his wound,
so that he felt much better, and, ere he departed, put by him a platter
of very delicate little round biscuits, or rolls, and a beautiful pitcher
full of nice wine, and bade him refresh himself from these during the
night, and so, stealing away softly, he departed.
But oh, the wretchedness of the awaking in the morning! For then Wild
Cat found himself indeed in the extreme of misery. His head was swollen
and aching to an incredible degree, and the horrible wound, which was
gaping wide, had been stuffed with hemlock needles and pine splinters,
and this was the cool salve which the Doctor had applied.
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