Chapter 22 - Page 2

truth, for a much longer
period, in America. [35] The first ten years, no rent at all was to be
paid. For the next ten, the land, five hundred acres, was to pay sixpence
currency an acre, the tenant having the right to cut timber at pleasure.
This was a great concession, as the mill-lot contained much pine. For the
remainder of the lease, be it longer or shorter, a shilling an acre, or
about sixpence sterling, was to be paid for the land, and forty pounds
currency, or one hundred dollars a year, for the mill-seat. The mills to be
taken by the landlord, at an appraisal 'made by men', at the expiration of
the lease; the tenant to pay the taxes. The tenant had the privilege of
using all the materials for his dams, buildings, &c., he could find on the
land.

The policy of the owners of Mooseridge was different. We intended to sell
at low prices, at first, reserving for leases hereafter, such farms as
could not be immediately disposed of, or for which the purchaser failed to
pay. In this manner it was thought we should sooner get returns for our
outlays, and sooner 'build up a settlement,' as the phrase goes. In
America, the reader should know, everything is 'built.' The priest 'builds
up' a flock; the speculator, a fortune; the lawyer, a reputation; and the
landlord, a settlement; sometimes, with sufficient accuracy in language, he
even builds a town.

Jason was a very happy man, the moment he got his lease, signed and sealed,
in his own possession. It made him a sort of a land-holder on the spot, and
one who had nothing to pay for ten years to come. God forgive me, if I
do the man injustice; but, from the first, I had a suspicion that Jason
trusted to fortune to prevent any pay-day from ever coming at all. As for
Herman Mordaunt, he seemed satisfied, for he fancied that he had got a
man of some education on his property, who might answer a good purpose in
civilizing, and in otherwise advancing the interests of his estate.

Just as the rays of the rising sun streamed through the crevices of our log
tenement, and ere one of us three idlers had risen from his pallet, I heard
a moccasined foot moving near me, in the nearly noiseless tread of an
Indian. Springing to my feet, I found myself face to face with the missing
Onondago!

"You here, Susquesus!" I exclaimed; "we supposed you had abandoned us. What
has brought you back?"

"Time to go, now," answered the Indian, quietly. "Yengeese and Canada
warrior soon fight."

"Is this true!--And do you, _can_ you know it to be true! Where have you
been this fortnight past?"

"Been see--have see--know him just so. Come--call young men; go on
war-path."

Here, then, was