Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 3).djvu/172

 "Chance!" echoed the excited woodsman, who was now stubbornly bent on maintaining his identity, at every hazard, and on whom the secret hints of Heyward to acquiesce in the deception were entirely lost. "Does yonder lying Huron, too, think it chance? Give him another gun, and place us face to face, without cover or dodge, and let Providence, and our own eyes, decide the matter atween us? I do not make the offer to you, major; for our blood is of a colour, and we serve the same master."

"That the Huron is a liar, is very evident," returned Heyward, coolly; "you have, yourself, heard him assert you to be la Longue Carabine."

It were impossible to say what violent assertion the stubborn Hawk-eye would have next made, in his headlong wish to vindicate his identity, had not the aged Delaware once more interposed.

"The hawk which comes from the clouds, can return when he will," he said; "give them the guns."

This time the scout seized the rifle with