Now were the tears in his eyes, which, up to this moment, had been so bright and clear--tears that went on telling the gratitude and love which the lips had left but half expressed. Ben had already had some two or three little spells of filling up and choking down; of feeling soft and breathing hard, so touching was it, so touching is it always to witness the gratitude of the poor human heart to poor human love for poor human life; and this was just more than the good fellow could bear without some noise. Abruptly checking himself in the midst of another wag-tail shake, he laid the little hand on the bed as carefully as you would a glass of water on the table, right side up, and hurried out of the house like one who had overstayed his time and must rush to make ends meet. He went no farther, however, than just out of doors, where, finding room for his heart to expand in, roared out in a voice perfectly tremendous for one of his age: "Hurrah for General Washington! Hurrah for Colonel Boone! Hurrah for Sprigg!" And bang! went his gun. CHAPTER XXIV. Little Bertha. Up to this moment Bertha had remained a delighted, though half-unconscious, spectator of what was passing. While Sprigg was unbosoming, all unwittingly, his Manitou experiences, her innocent eyes, without losing their look of dreamy, solemn wonder, had gradually brightened with unwonted intelligence, mixed with delight, as were she beholding, in their truer and more benign aspect, the marvels which had revealed themselves to him in shapes of terror and retribution. Of course, what Bertha saw and heard she only comprehended in part what had been revealed; yet was she and ever would be the wiser and the happier for the seeing and the hearing. But now, with the young stentor's uncouth roar of joy, shaking the infant settlement from center to circumference, snapped was the Manitou spell, broken the Manitou dream. Gliding out of the house; away, like a bird, to the woods she fluttered, there, all unobserved, she fell to dancing about for very thankfulness and joy, the evening sunbeams dancing with her, as were she a sunbeam, too in human likeness. "Oh! could I but tell him, who loves little children, how thankful, how happy I am! But I'm only a little girl, and don't know how!"