et
to the first fool you meet with, and buy some we'pon with the money, if
it be only the barrel of a horseman's pistol. By industry and care, you
might thus come to some prefarment; for by this time, I should think,
your eyes would plainly tell you that a carrion crow is a better bird
than a mocking-thresher. The one will, at least, remove foul sights
from before the face of man, while the other is only good to brew
disturbances in the woods, by cheating the ears of all that hear them."

"Arms and the clarion for the battle, but the song of thanksgiving
to the victory!" answered the liberated David. "Friend," he added,
thrusting forth his lean, delicate hand toward Hawkeye, in kindness,
while his eyes twinkled and grew moist, "I thank thee that the hairs
of my head still grow where they were first rooted by Providence; for,
though those of other men may be more glossy and curling, I have ever
found mine own well suited to the brain they shelter. That I did not
join myself to the battle, was less owing to disinclination, than to the
bonds of the heathen. Valiant and skillful hast thou proved thyself in
the conflict, and I hereby thank thee, before proceeding to discharge
other and more important duties, because thou hast proved thyself well
worthy of a Christian's praise."

"The thing is but a trifle, and what you may often see if you tarry long
among us," returned the scout, a good deal softened toward the man of
song, by this unequivocal expression of gratitude. "I have got back my
old companion, 'killdeer'," he added, striking his hand on the breech of
his rifle; "and that in itself is a victory. These Iroquois are cunning,
but they outwitted themselves when they placed their firearms out of
reach; and had Uncas or his father been gifted with only their common
Indian patience, we should have come in upon the knaves with three
bullets instead of one, and that would have made a finish of the whole
pack; yon loping varlet, as well as his commerades. But 'twas all
fore-ordered, and for the best."

"Thou sayest well," returned David, "and hast caught the true spirit
of Christianity. He that is to be saved will be saved, and he that is
predestined to be damned will be damned. This is the doctrine of truth,
and most consoling and refreshing it is to the true believer."

The scout, who by this time was seated, examining into the state of his
rifle with a species of parental assiduity, now looked up at the other
in a disp