Chapter 22 - Page 2

hawk's, and my limbs were as active as the legs of the fallow-deer, I
never clung too eagerly and fondly to life: then why should I now feel
such a childish affection for a thing that I know to be vain, and the
companion of pain and sorrow. Let the Tetons do their worst; they will
not find a miserable and worn out trapper the loudest in his
complaints, or his prayers."

"Pardon me, my worthy, my inestimable friend," exclaimed the repentant
young man, warmly grasping the hand, which the other was in the act of
withdrawing; "I knew not what I said--or rather I thought only of
those whose tenderness we are most bound to consider."

"Enough. It is natur', and it is right. Therein your grand'ther would
have done the very same. Ah's me! what a number of seasons, hot and
cold, wet and dry, have rolled over my poor head, since the time we
worried it out together, among the Red Hurons of the Lakes, back in
those rugged mountains of Old York! and many a noble buck has since
that day fallen by my hand; ay, and many a thieving Mingo, too! Tell
me, lad, did the general, for general I know he got to be, did he ever
tell you of the deer we took, that night the outlyers of the accursed
tribe drove us to the caves, on the island, and how we feasted and
drunk in security?"

"I have often heard him mention the smallest circumstance of the night
you mean; but--"

"And the singer; and his open throat; and his shoutings in the
fights!" continued the old man, laughing joyously at the strength of
his own recollections.

"All--all--he forgot nothing, even to the most trifling incident. Do
you not--"

"What! did he tell you of the imp behind the log and of the miserable
devil who went over the fall--or of the wretch in the tree?"

"Of each and all, with every thing that concerned them.[*] I should
think--"

[*] They who have read the preceding books, in which, the trapper
appears as a hunter and a scout, will readily understand the
allusions.

"Ay," continued the old man, in a voice, which betrayed how powerfully
his own faculties retained the impression of the spectacle, "I have
been a dweller in forests, and in the wilderness for three-score and
ten years, and if any can pretend to know the world, or to have seen
scary sights, it is myself! But never, before nor since, have I seen
human man in such a state of mortal despair as that very savage; and
yet he scorned to speak, or to cry out, or to own his forlorn
condition! It is their gift, and nobly did he maintain it!"

"Harkee, old trapper," interrupted Paul, who, content with the
knowledge that his waist was grasped