to the afflicted soul; but the sight
of such a monster might upset her reason. Though for that matter, major,
you are none of the most inviting yourself in your paint."

Duncan, who had already swung eagerly forward, drew instantly back on
hearing these discouraging words.

"Am I, then, so very revolting?" he demanded, with an air of chagrin.

"You might not startle a wolf, or turn the Royal Americans from a
discharge; but I have seen the time when you had a better favored look;
your streaked countenances are not ill-judged of by the squaws, but
young women of white blood give the preference to their own color. See,"
he added, pointing to a place where the water trickled from a rock,
forming a little crystal spring, before it found an issue through the
adjacent crevices; "you may easily get rid of the Sagamore's daub, and
when you come back I will try my hand at a new embellishment. It's
as common for a conjurer to alter his paint as for a buck in the
settlements to change his finery."

The deliberate woodsman had little occasion to hunt for arguments to
enforce his advice. He was yet speaking when Duncan availed himself
of the water. In a moment every frightful or offensive mark was
obliterated, and the youth appeared again in the lineaments with which
he had been gifted by nature. Thus prepared for an interview with
his mistress, he took a hasty leave of his companion, and disappeared
through the indicated passage. The scout witnessed his departure with
complacency, nodding his head after him, and muttering his good wishes;
after which he very coolly set about an examination of the state of the
larder, among the Hurons, the cavern, among other purposes, being used
as a receptacle for the fruits of their hunts.

Duncan had no other guide than a distant glimmering light, which served,
however, the office of a polar star to the lover. By its aid he was
enabled to enter the haven of his hopes, which was merely another
apartment of the cavern, that had been solely appropriated to the
safekeeping of so important a prisoner as a daughter of the commandant
of William Henry. It was profusely strewed with the plunder of that
unlucky fortress. In the midst of this confusion he found her he sought,
pale, anxious and terrified, but lovely. David had prepared her for such
a visit.

"Duncan!" she exclaimed, in a voice that seemed to tremble at the sounds
created by itself.

"Alice!" he answered, leaping carelessly among trun