“No,” replied Martin; “but if he were cankered in disposition, which I will say Malachi is not, he might make it very unpleasant for you to remain, by bringing the Indians about you.”
“Surely, he would not do that?” said Mrs Campbell.
“No, I don’t think he would,” replied Martin; “because, you see, it’s just as easy for him to go further off.”
“But why should we drive him away from his property any more than we leave our own?” observed Mrs Campbell.
“He says he won’t be crowded, ma’am; he can’t bear to be crowded.”
“Why, there’s a river between us.”
“So there is, ma’am, but still that’s his feeling. I said to him that if he would go, I daresay Mr Campbell would buy his allotment of him, and he seems quite willing to part with it.”
“It would be a great addition to your property, Mr Campbell,” observed Captain Sinclair. “In the first place, you would have the whole of the prairie and the right of the river on both sides, apparently of no consequence now, but as the country fills up, most valuable.”
“Well,” replied Mr Campbell, “as I presume we shall remain here, or, at all events, those who survive me will, till the country fills up, I shall be most happy to make any arrangement with Bone for the purchase of his property.”
“I’ll have some more talk with him, sir,” replied Martin.