d upon the sands of the
sea-shore, and saw a big canoe, with wings whiter than the swan's, and
wider than many eagles, come from the rising sun."

"Nay, nay; I speak not of a time so very distant, but of favor shown to
thy kindred by one of mine, within the memory of thy youngest warrior."

"Was it when the Yengeese and the Dutchmanne fought for the
hunting-grounds of the Delawares? Then Tamenund was a chief, and first
laid aside the bow for the lightning of the pale faces--"

[Illustration: _Copyright by Charles Scribner's Sons_

THE SUPPLICANT

_Cora had cast herself to her knees; and, with hands clenched in each
other and pressed upon her bosom, she remained like a beauteous and
breathing model of her sex_]

"Nor yet then," interrupted Cora, "by many ages; I speak of a thing of
yesterday. Surely, surely, you forget it not."

"It was but yesterday," rejoined the aged man, with touching pathos,
"that the children of the Lenape were masters of the world. The fishes
of the salt lake, the birds, the beasts, and the Mengwe of the woods,
owned them for sagamores."

Cora bowed her head in disappointment, and, for a bitter moment,
struggled with her chagrin. Then elevating her rich features and beaming
eyes, she continued, in tones scarcely less penetrating than the
unearthly voice of the patriarch himself,--

"Tell me, is Tamenund a father?"

The old man looked down upon her from his elevated stand, with a
benignant smile on his wasted countenance, and then casting his eyes
slowly over the whole assemblage, he answered,--

"Of a nation."

"For myself I ask nothing. Like thee and thine, venerable chief," she
continued, pressing her hands convulsively on her heart, and suffering
her head to droop until her burning cheeks were nearly concealed in the
maze of dark glossy tresses that fell in disorder upon her shoulders,
"the curse of my ancestors has fallen heavily on their child. But yonder
is one who has never known the weight of Heaven's displeasure until now.
She is the daughter of an old and failing man, whose days are near their
close. She has many, very many, to love her, and delight in her; and she
is too good, much too precious, to become the victim of that villain."

"I know that the pale-faces are a proud and hungry race. I know that
they claim not only to have the earth, but that the meanest of their
color is better than the sachems of the redman. The dogs and crows of
their tribes," continued the ear