Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 2).djvu/78

 "He keeps the letter, then, sir, while he releases the messenger?"

"Aye, that does he, and all for the sake of what you call your 'bonhommie.' I would venture, if the truth was known, the fellow's grandfather taught the noble science of dancing!"

"But what says the scout? he has eyes and ears, and a tongue! what verbal report does he make?"

"Oh! sir, he is not wanting in natural organs, and he is free to tell all that he has seen and heard. The whole amount is this: there is a fort of his majesty's on the banks of the Hudson, called Edward, in honour of his gracious highness of York, you'll know, and it is well filled with armed men, as such a work should be!"

"But was there no movement, no signs, of any intention to advance to our relief?"

"There were the morning and evening parades, and when one of the provincial loons—you'll know, Duncan, your're half a Scotsman yourself—when one of them dropped his powder over his porretch, if it touched the coals, it just burnt!" Then