Many were the exclamations of childish wonder that broke from the other
females, as they compared the snowy arm of the stranger with their own
dusky skins; it was plain that they had no intention of harming her, and by
degrees distrust and dread of her singular companions began in some measure
to subside.
The squaw motioned her to take a seat on a mat beside her, and gave her a
handful of parched rice and some deer's flesh to eat; but Catharine's heart
was too heavy; she was suffering from thirst, and on pronouncing the Indian
word for water, the young girl snatched up a piece of birch-bark from the
floor of the tent, and gathering the corners together, ran to the lake, and
soon returned with water in this most primitive drinking vessel, which
she held to the lips of her guest, and she seemed amused by the long deep
draught with which Catharine slaked her thirst; and something like a gleam
of hope came over her mind as she marked the look of kindly feeling with
which she caught the young Indian girl regarding her, and she strove to
overcome the choking sensation that would from time to time rise to her
throat, as she fluctuated between hope and fear.
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