believe," added the canoe, addressing himself to me. "Well, it is a long story, but you will have plenty of time to listen to it; for if Joe and Roy have gone out on the lake, they will not return much before dark. You ought to know the full history of Tom's dealings with Joe, for you may become the victim of persecution as the rest of us are and have been ever since Tom came here; and if you were not posted, you would not know how to account for it. A long time ago—"
But there! I never could learn to tell a story in the words of another, so I will, for a time, drop the personal pronoun, which I don't like to use if I can help it, and give you in my own homely way the substance of the narrative to which I listened that afternoon. But please understand one thing before I begin: The historian was not a personal witness of all the incidents I am about to describe. He couldn't have been, unless he possessed the power of being in half a dozen different places at the same time. He saw and heard some things, of course, but much of his information had been obtained from the long bow, and from Joe and
