Little Linna, daughter of Omas, the Delaware warrior, was of the
same age as Alice Ripley. The weather was warm although she wore
tiny moccasins to protect her feet, she scorned the superfluous
stockings and undergarments that formed a part of the other's
apparel.
Her hair was as black, abundant, and almost as long as her father's;
but her face was clean, and, perhaps in honor of the occasion, she,
too, sported a gaudy eagle feather in her hair.
She bounded out of the green wood like a fawn, but as she drew near
her parent and Alice, her footsteps became slower, and she halted
a few paces away, hung her head, with her forefinger between her
pretty white teeth--for all the world like any white girl of her
years.
But Alice did not allow her to remain embarrassed. She had been
begging for this visit, and now, when she saw her friend, she ran
forward, took her little plump hand and said--"Linna, I am real
glad you have come!"
Omas had risen to his feet, and watched the girls with an affection
and interest which found no expression on his painted face. His
child looked timidly up to him and walked slowly forward, her hand
clasped in that of Alice. She did not speak, but when her escort
sat down on the grass, she did the same.
"Linna, do you know how to play Jack Stones?" asked Alice, picking
up the pebbles.
Linna shook her head quickly several times, but her lips remained
mute.
"Your father thought he knew how, but he don't; he doesn't play fair,
either. Let me show you, so you can beat him when you go home."
Alice set to work, while the bright black eyes watched every
movement.
"Now do you want to try it?" she asked, after going through the
game several times.
Linna nodded her head with the same birdlike quickness, and reached
out her chubby hand.
Her father and Alice watched her closely. She made several failures
at first, all of which were patiently explained by her tutor; by and
by she went through the performance from beginning to end without
a break.
Alice clapped her hands with delight, and Omas--certain that no
grownup person saw him--smiled with pleasure.
"Doesn't she know how to talk?" asked Alice, looking up at the
warrior. Omas spoke somewhat sharply to his child in the Delaware
tongue. She startled, and looking at Alice, asked-"Do--yoo think me play well?"
Alice was delighted to find she could make herself understood so
easily. It was wonderful how she had learned to speak English so
early in life.