Such things were usual in an Indian village and camp,
where sleep is as irregular as the meals. Then poor Hetty's known
imbecility, as in most things connected with the savages, stood
her friend on this occasion. Vexed at his disappointment, and
impatient of the presence of one he thought an intruder, the young
warrior signed for the girl to move forward, holding the direction
of the beach. Hetty complied; but as she walked away she spoke
aloud in English in her usual soft tones, which the stillness of
the night made audible at some little distance.
"If you took me for a Huron girl, warrior," she said, "I don't
wonder you are so little pleased. I am Hetty Hutter, Thomas Hutter's
daughter, and have never met any man at night, for mother always
said it was wrong, and modest young women should never do it; modest
young women of the pale-faces, I mean; for customs are different
in different parts of the world, I know. No, no; I'm Hetty Hutter,
and wouldn't meet even Hurry Harry, though he should fall down on
his knees and ask me! Mother said it was wrong."
By the time Hetty had said this, she reached the place where the
canoes had come ashore, and, owing to the curvature of the land and
the bushes, would have been completely hid from the sight of the
sentinel, had it been broad day.
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