"Hum!" said Nathan, "Ellen is dainty—she prefers Mexican cookery to ours."
Ellen blushed, but made no reply; Red Cedar smote the table with his fist angrily.
"Silence!" he shouted; "How does it concern you whether your sister eats or not? She is at liberty to do as she likes here, I suppose."
"I don't say the contrary," Nathan growled; "still she seems to affect a dislike to eat with us."
"You are a scoundrel! I repeat to you that your sister is mistress here, and no one has a right to make any remarks to her."
Nathan looked down angrily, and began eating.
"Come here, child," Red Cedar continued, as he gave his rough voice all the gentleness of which it was susceptible, "come here, that I may give you a trifle I have bought you."
The maiden approached and Red Cedar drew from his pocket a gold watch attached to a long chain.
"Look you," he said, as he put it round her neck, "I know that you have desired a watch for a long time, so here is one I bought of some travellers we met on the prairie."
While uttering these words, the squatter felt himself blush involuntarily, for he lied; the watch had been torn from the body of a woman killed by his hands when attacking a caravan. Ellen perceived this blush; she took off the watch and returned it to Red Cedar without saying a word.