He pondered a moment, and then took his own manner of
communicating that which he wished to say. The fact that his friend
was married made no great difference in his advice, for the Indian
was much too shrewd an observer not to have detected the bee-
hunter's attachment. He had not supposed it possible to separate his
friend from the family of Gershom, though he did suppose there would
be less difficulty in getting him to go on a path different from
that which the missionary and corporal might take. His own great
purpose was to serve le Bourdon, and how many or how few might
incidentally profit by it he did not care. The truth compels us to
own, that even Margery's charms, and nature, and warm-hearted
interest in all around her, had failed to make any impression on his
marble-like feelings; while the bee-hunter's habits, skill in his
craft, and close connection with himself at the mouth of the river,
and more especially in liberating him from his enemies, had united
him in a comrade's friendship with her husband. It was a little
singular that this Chippewa did not fall into Peter's superstitious
dread of the bee-hunter's necromancy, though he was aware of all
that had passed the previous day on the prairie.
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