«
    »A name, did you say!« exclaimed the old man, starting, »what, the name, of
the solitary, unl'arned hunter! Do the great, and the rich, and the honored, and
what is better, still, the just, do they bear his very actual name!«
    »It is borne, by my brother, and by two of my cousins, whatever may be their
titles to be described by the terms you have mentioned.«
    »Do you mean, the actual name itself: spelt with the very same letters;
beginning with an N. and ending with an L.«
    »Exactly the same,« the youth smilingly replied. »No, no, we have forgotten
nothing that was his; I have at this moment a dog brushing a deer, not far from
this, who is come of a hound, that very scout sent as a present after his
friends, and which was of the stock he always used himself: a truer breed in
nose and foot, is not to be found in the wide Union.«
    »Hector!« said the old man, struggling to conquer an emotion that nearly
suffocated him, and speaking to his hound, in the sort of tones he would have
used to a child, »do ye hear that, Pup. Your kin and blood, are on the Prairies!
A name! it is wonderful! very wonderful!«
    Nature could endure no more. Overcome by a flood of unusual and
extraordinary sensations, and stimulated by tender and long dormant
recollections strangely and unexpectedly revived, the old man had just self
command enough to add, in a voice that was hollow and unnatural, through the
efforts he made to command it -
    »Boy, I am that scout; a warrior once, a miserable trapper now!« when the
tears broke over his wasted cheeks out of fountains that had long been dried
and, sinking his face between his knees, he covered it decently, with his
buckskin garment, and sobb'd aloud.
    The spectacle produced correspondent emotions in his companions. Paul Hover
had actually swallowed each syllable of the discourse as they fell, alternately,
from the different speakers, his feelings keeping equal pace with the increasing
interest of the scene. Unused to such strange sensations, he was turning his
face on every side of him, to avoid he knew not what, until he saw the tears and
heard the sobs of the old man, when he sprang to his feet, and grappling his
guest fiercely by the throat, he demanded, by what authority he