Theodore Goodridge Roberts

“ An hour passed. The woman and children went into the forest to gather firewood. Noel crawled into the hut and took his gun from the corner. It was a huge flintlock. He loaded it hastily, slipped the powder-horn into the front of his shirt, and then carried the gun down to the shore and hid it in a clump of grass. He felt weak and tired, but the desire for revenge was so hot in his heart that he paid no heed to his physical discomfort.
His good canoe he had left on Haystack Island, but from the bushes beside the path he dragged an ancient craft that he had not used since the year before. ”

“ With a few strokes of the paddle, the Captain drove the canoe to land, jumped out, and ran up the path. He found the hut front and the roof of the hut ablaze. One of the new blankets had been carelessly flung half in and half out of the doorway; the fire had crept along it from the embers before the door to the curtain of bark. The flames had crawled up the wall and poles to the roof, and the heavy smoke had flooded in upon the sleeping family.
Captain Stanway shouted and dashed at the burning hut. He plunged through the blazing doorway and groped wildly about the floor. ”

“ Then the whole family, with the exception of the baby, fell to devouring the good things from the Stanway kitchen. Noel told his story while they ate. He told it in the Malecite language, for the squaw knew only a few words of English.
"He cares not so much for the poor Malecite as for his dogs," said Noel. "His guns blow up when the powder goes down, from much shooting, so he gives them to me to load. He thinks it no great thing if the right hand of Noel Bear is destroyed."
Noel lay down on the new blankets in the sunshine and pretended to sleep. ”