Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 2).djvu/167

 "Le Renard Subtil!"

"Ha! that rampaging devil again! there never will be an end of his loping till 'kill-deer' has said a friendly word to him."

Heyward reluctantly admitted the truth of this intelligence, and now rather expressed his hopes than his doubts, by saying—

"One moccasin is so much like another, it is probable there is some mistake."

"One moccasin like another! you may as well say that one foot is like another, though we all know that some are long and others short, some broad and others narrow, some with high and some with low insteps, some in-toed and some out! One moccasin is no more like another than one book is like another; though they who can read in one are seldom able to tell the marks of the other. Which is all ordered for the best, giving to every man his natural advantages. Let me get down to it, Uncas; neither book nor moccasin is the worse for having two opinions instead of one." The scout stooped to the task, and instantly