, and can measure what he
knows by the page, may conceit that his knowledge, like his legs, outruns that
of his father; but where experience is the master, the scholar is made to know
the value of years, and respects them accordingly.«
    »See!« said Uncas, pointing north and south, at the evident marks of the
broad trail on either side of him; »the dark-hair has gone towards the frost.«
    »Hound never ran on a more beautiful scent,« responded the scout, dashing
forward, at once, on the indicated route; »we are favoured, greatly favoured,
and can follow with high noses. Ay, here are both your waddling beasts; this
Huron travels like a white general! The fellow is stricken with a judgment, and
is mad! Look sharp for wheels, Sagamore,« he continued, looking back and
laughing, in his newly awakened satisfaction; »we shall soon have the fool
journeying in a coach, and that with three of the best pair of eyes on the
borders in his rear.«
    The spirits of the scout, and the astonishing success of the chase, in which
a circuitous distance of more than forty miles had been passed, did not fail to
impart a portion of hope to the whole party. Their advance was rapid; and made
with as much confidence as a traveller would proceed along a wide highway. If a
rock, or a rivulet, or a bit of earth harder than common, severed the links of
the clue they followed, the true eye of the scout recovered them at a distance,
and seldom rendered the delay of a single moment necessary. Their progress was
much facilitated by the certainty that Magua had found it necessary to journey
through the valleys; a circumstance which rendered the general direction of the
route sure. Nor had the Huron entirely neglected the arts uniformly practised by
the natives, when retiring in front of an enemy. False trails, and sudden
turnings, were frequent, wherever a brook, or the formation of the ground,
rendered them feasible; but his pursuers were rarely deceived, and never failed
to detect their error, before they had lost either time or distance on the
deceptive track.
    By the middle of the afternoon they had passed the Scaroon, and were
following the route of the declining sun. After descending an eminence to a low
bottom, through which a swift stream glided, they suddenly came to a place where
the party of le Renard had made a halt. Extinguished brands were lying around a
spring, the offals of a deer were scattered
