"Oh, aye," answered the boatmen, "it shall be done; but we shall have to pay the man who carries it."
The arrangement in regard to payment was soon made, though it was somewhat exorbitant; but to insure that the commission was faithfully executed, Lord H---- reserved a portion of the money, to be given when he heard that the skin had been delivered.
The rest of the journey was passed without interruption or difficulty, and at an early hour of the evening the young nobleman stood once more at the door of his fellow countryman's house.
CHAPTER VI
The return of Lord H---- without his guide and companion, Captain Brooks, caused some surprise in Mr. Prevost and his daughter, who had not expected to see any of the party before a late hour of the following evening. Not choosing to explain, in the presence of Edith, the cause of his parting so suddenly from the hunter, the young nobleman merely said that circumstances had led him to conclude it would be advisable to send Woodchuck in the boat with Walter, to Albany, and his words were uttered in so natural and easy a tone that Edith, unconscious that her presence put any restraint upon his communication with her father, remained seated in their pleasant little parlor till the hour for the evening meal.
"Well, my lord," said Mr. Prevost, after the few first words of explanation had passed, "did you meet with any fresh specimens of the Indian in your short expedition?"
The question might have been a somewhat puzzling one for a man who did not want to enter into any particulars, but Lord H---- replied with easy readiness:
"Only one. Him we saw only for a moment, and he did not speak with us."
"They are a very curious race," said Mr. Prevost, "and albeit not very much given to ethnological studies, I have often puzzled myself as to whence they sprang, and how they made their way over to this continent."
Lord H---- smiled. "I fear I cannot help you," he said. "Mine is a coarse and unstudious profession, you know, my dear sir, and leads one much more to look at things as they are than to inquire how they came about. It strikes me at once, however, that in mere corporeal characteristics the Indian is very different from any race I ever beheld, if I may judge by the few individuals I have seen."