I dwelt upon the frontiers of Bedford--thee may not know the place; it is among the mountains of Pennsylvania, and far away.

_There_ was the house that I did build me; and in it there was all that I held dear, 'my gray old mother,'-- (that's the way thee did call her, when thee spoke of her in the wood!)--'the wife of my bosom,' and 'the child of my heart,'-- the _children_, friend,--for there was five of them, sons and daughters together,--little innocent babes that had done no wrong; and, truly, I loved them well.
Well, friend, the Injuns came around us: for being bold, because of my faith that made me a man of peace and the friend of all men, I sat me down far on the border.

But the Shawnees came upon me, and came as men of war, and their hands were red with the blood of my neighbours, and they raised them against my little infants.

Thee asked me in the wood, what I would do in such case, having arms in my hand?
Friend, I _had_ arms in my hand, at that moment,--a gun that had shot me the beasts of the mountain for food, and a knife that had pierced the throats of bears in their dens.

I gave them to the Shawnee chief, that he might know I was a friend .-- Friend! if thee asks me now for my children, I can tell thee--With my own knife he struck down my eldest boy! with my own gun he slew the mother of my children!--If thee should live till thee is gray, thee will never see the sight I saw that day! When thee has children that Injuns murder, as thee stands by,--a wife that clasps thee legs in the writhing of death,--her blood, spouting up to thee bosom, where she has slept,--an old mother calling thee to help her in the death-struggle:--then, friend, _then_ thee may see--then thee may know--then thee may feel--then thee may call theeself wretched, for thee will be so! Here was my little boy,--does thee see?
there his two sisters--thee understands ?--there--Thee may think I would have snatched a weapon to help them _then_! Well, thee is right:--but it was too late!--All murdered, friend!--all--all,--all cruelly murdered!" It is impossible to convey an idea of the extraordinary vehemence, the wild accents, the frantic looks, with which Nathan ended the horrid story, into which he had been betrayed by his repining companion.