Say, Sol, how wuz it that you talked Onondaga
when you played the part uv that Onondaga runner. Didn't know
you knowed that kind uv Injun lingo."
Shif'less Sol drew himself up proudly, and then passed a
thoughtful hand once or twice across his forehead.
"Jim," he said, "I've told you often that Paul an' me hez the
instincts uv the eddicated. Learnin' always takes a mighty
strong hold on me. Ef I'd had the chance, I might be a
purfessor, or mebbe I'd be writin' poetry. I ain't told you
about it, but when I wuz a young boy, afore I moved with the
settlers, I wuz up in these parts an' I learned to talk Iroquois
a heap. I never thought it would be the use to me it hez been
now. Ain't it funny that sometimes when you put a thing away an'
it gits all covered with rust and mold, the time comes when that
same forgot little thing is the most vallyble article in the
world to you."
"Weren't you scared, Sol," persisted Paul, "to face a man like
Brant, an' pass yourself off as an Onondaga?"
"No, I wuzn't," replied the shiftless one thoughtfully, "I've
been wuss scared over little things. I guess that when your life
depends on jest a motion o' your hand or the turnin' o' a word,
Natur' somehow comes to your help an' holds you up.
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