 woods from the
valleys, that the winds of Heaven had spared! The beasts that run on the
mountains, and the birds that fly above the trees, have I seen living in the
wigwams of men; but never before have I found a Delaware so base, as to creep,
like a poisonous serpent, into the camps of his nation.«
    »The singing-birds have opened their bills,« returned Uncas, in the softest
notes of his own musical voice; »and Tamenund has heard their song.«
    The sage started, and bent his head aside, as if to catch the fleeting
sounds of some passing melody.
    »Does Tamenund dream!« he exclaimed. »What voice is at his ear! Have the
winters gone backward! Will summer come again to the children of the Lenape!«
    A solemn and respectful silence succeeded this incoherent burst from the
lips of the Delaware prophet. His people readily construed his unintelligible
language into one of those mysterious conferences, he was believed to hold so
frequently, with a superior intelligence, and they awaited the issue of the
revelation in awe. After a patient pause, however, one of the aged men
perceiving that the sage had lost the recollection of the subject before them,
ventured to remind him again of the presence of the prisoner.
    »The false Delaware trembles lest he should hear the words of Tamenund,« he
said. »'Tis a hound that howls, when the Yengeese show him a trail.«
    »And ye,« returned Uncas, looking sternly around him, »are dogs that whine
when the Frenchman casts ye the offals of his deer!«
    Twenty knives gleamed in the air, and as many warriors sprang to their feet,
at this biting, and perhaps merited, retort; but a motion from one of the chiefs
suppressed the outbreaking of their tempers, and restored the appearance of
quiet. The task might probably have been more difficult, had not a movement,
made by Tamenund, indicated that he was again about to speak.
    »Delaware,« resumed the sage, »little art thou worthy of thy name. My people
have not seen a bright sun in many winters; and the warrior who deserts his
tribe, when hid in clouds, is doubly a traitor. The law of the Manitto is just.
It is so; while the rivers run and the mountains stand, while the blossoms come
and go on the trees, it must be so. He is thine, my children; deal justly by
him.«
    Not a limb was moved, nor was a breath drawn louder and
