Delaware conceit himself far mightier
than a Pawnee, just as a Pawnee boasts himself to be of the princes of
the 'arth. And so it was atween the Frenchers of the Canadas and the
red-coated English, that the king did use to send into the States, when
States they were not, but outcrying and petitioning provinces, they
fou't and they fou't, and what marvellous boastings did they give forth
to the world of their own valour and victories, while both parties
forgot to name the humble soldier of the land, who did the real service,
but who, as he was not privileged then to smoke at the great council
fire of his nation, seldom heard of his deeds, after they were once
bravely done."

When the old man had thus given vent to the nearly dormant, but far from
extinct, military pride, that had so unconsciously led him into the very
error he deprecated, his eye, which had begun to quicken and glimmer
with some of the ardour of his youth, softened and turned its anxious
look on the devoted captive, whose countenance was also restored to its
former cold look of abstraction and thought.

"Young warrior," he continued in a voice that was growing tremulous, "I
have never been father, or brother. The Wahcondah made me to live alone.
He never tied my heart to house or field, by the cords with which the
men of my race are bound to their lodges; if he had, I should not have
journeyed so far, and seen so much. But I have tarried long among a
people, who lived in those woods you mention, and much reason did I find
to imitate their courage and love their honesty. The Master of Life has
made us all, Pawnee, with a feeling for our kind. I never was a father,
but well do I know what is the love of one. You are like a lad I valued,
and I had even begun to fancy that some of his blood might be in your
veins. But what matters that? You are a true man, as I know by the
way in which you keep your faith; and honesty is a gift too rare to be
forgotten. My heart yearns to you, boy, and gladly would I do you good."

The youthful warrior listened to the words, which came from the lips of
the other with a force and simplicity that established their truth, and
he bowed his head on his naked bosom, in testimony of the respect with
which he met the proffer. Then lifting his dark eye to the level of the
view, he seemed to be again considering of things removed from every
personal consideration. The trapper, who well knew how high the pride
of a warrior would sus