 portion of that
wisdom for which they were so renowned.25
    During the utterance of this extraordinary address, the companions of the
speaker were as grave and as attentive to his language, as though they were all
equally impressed with its propriety. Once or twice black objects were seen
rising to the surface of the water, and the Huron expressed pleasure, conceiving
that his words were not bestowed in vain. Just as he had ended his address, the
head of a large beaver was thrust from the door of a lodge, whose earthen walls
had been much injured, and which the party had believed, from its situation, to
be uninhabited. Such an extraordinary sign of confidence was received by the
orator as a highly favourable omen; and, though the animal retreated a little
precipitately, he was lavish of his thanks and commendations.
    When Magua thought sufficient time had been lost, in gratifying the family
affection of the warrior, he again made the signal to proceed. As the Indians
moved away in a body, and with a step that would have been inaudible to the ears
of any common man, the same venerable looking beaver once more ventured his head
from its cover. Had any of the Hurons turned to look behind them, they would
have seen the animal watching their movements with an interest and sagacity that
might easily have been mistaken for reason. Indeed, so very distinct and
intelligible were the devices of the quadruped, that even the most experienced
observer would have been at a loss to account for its actions, until the moment
when the party entered the forest, when the whole would have been explained, by
seeing the entire animal issue from the lodge, uncasing, by the act, the grave
features of Chingachgook from his mask of fur.
 

                                 Chapter XXVIII

 »Brief, I pray you; for you see, 'tis a busy time with me.«
                                              Much Ado about Nothing, III.v.4-5.
 
The tribe, or rather half-tribe, of Delawares, which has been so often
mentioned, and whose present place of encampment was so nigh the temporary
village of the Hurons, could assemble about an equal number of warriors with the
latter people. Like their neighbours, they had followed Montcalm into the
territories of the English crown, and were making heavy and serious inroads on
the hunting grounds of the Mohawks, though they had seen fit, with the
mysterious reserve so common among the natives, to withhold their assistance at
the moment when it was most required. The French had accounted for this
unexpected defection on the part of their ally in various ways. It was the
