him, and then he
soliloquized, as was his practice whenever any strong feeling suddenly
got the ascendancy.

"'Tis his gift!--yes, 'tis the gift of a red-skin to love finery, and
he is not to be blamed. This is an extr'ornary garment, too, and
extr'ornary things get up extr'ornary feelin's. I think this will do,
Judith, for the Indian heart is hardly to be found in all America that
can withstand colours like these, and glitter like that. If this coat
was ever made for your father, you've come honestly by the taste for
finery, you have."

"That coat was never made for father," answered the girl, quickly--"it
is much too long, while father is short and square."

"Cloth was plenty if it was, and glitter cheap," answered Deerslayer,
with his silent, joyous laugh. "Sarpent, this garment was made for a man
of your size, and I should like to see it on your shoulders."

Chingachgook, nothing loath, submitted to the trial, throwing aside the
coarse and thread bare jacket of Hutter, to deck his person in a coat
that was originally intended for a gentleman. The transformation was
ludicrous, but as men are seldom struck with incongruities in their own
appearance, any more than in their own conduct, the Delaware studied
this change in a common glass, by which Hutter was in the habit of
shaving, with grave interest. At that moment he thought of Hist, and
we owe it to truth, to say, though it may militate a little against the
stern character of a warrior to avow it, that he wished he could be seen
by her in his present improved aspect.

"Off with it, Sarpent--off with it," resumed the inflexible Deerslayer.
"Such garments as little become you as they would become me. Your gifts
are for paint, and hawk's feathers, and blankets, and wampum, and mine
are for doublets of skins, tough leggings, and sarviceable moccasins.
I say moccasins, Judith, for though white, living as I do in the woods
it's necessary to take to some of the practyces of the woods, for
comfort's sake and cheapness."

"I see no reason, Deerslayer, why one man may not wear a scarlet coat,
as well as another," returned the girl. "I wish I could see you in this
handsome garment."

"See me in a coat fit for a Lord!--Well, Judith, if you wait till that
day, you'll wait until you see me beyond reason and memory. No--no--gal,
my gifts are my gifts, and I'll live and die in 'em, though I never
bring down another deer, or spear another salmon. What have I done that
you