Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 2).djvu/248

 ground; and there the dark-hair has made a little jump from root to root. No, no; my knowledge for it, neither of them was nigh fainting hereaway. Now the singer was beginning to be foot-sore and leg-weary, as is plain by his trail. There you see he slipped; here he has travelled wide and tottered; and there, again it looks as though he journeyed on snow-shoes. Ay, ay, a man who uses his throat altogether, can hardly give his legs a proper training!"

From such undeniable testimony did the practised woodsman arrive at the truth, with nearly as much certainty and precision as if he had been a witness of all those events which his ingenuity so easily elucidated. Cheered by these assurances, and satisfied by a reasoning that was so obvious, while it was so simple, the party resumed its course after making a short halt, to take a hurried and slight repast.

When the meal was ended the scout cast a glance upward at the setting sun, and pushed forward with a rapidity, to equal which compelled Heyward and the still vigorous Munro to exert all their muscles.