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104
METIPOM’S HOSTAGE

lacked the seasoning he was used to—for the Indians used no salt in their cooking—and then lay back and, with his hands beneath his head, stared upward at the sun-patterned roof of this strange house and gave himself over to thought. From without came the low hum of voices, the snarling and barking of dogs, the thud of a stone axe on timber, and at times the shrill shouting of the boys at play. The sounds were all foreign and unaccustomed and David’s heart sank as a fuller realization of his predicament came to him.