Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 3).djvu/33

 the throng, no gap had been left, between shoulder and shoulder, that was not, now, filled with the dark lineaments of some eager and curious human countenance.

In the meantime, the more aged chiefs, in the centre, communed with each other in short and broken sentences. Not a word was uttered, that did not convey the meaning of the speaker, in the simplest and most energetic form. Again, a long and deeply solemn pause took place. It was known, by all present, to be the grave precursor of a weighty and important judgment. They who composed the outer circle of faces were on tiptoe to gaze, and even the culprit, for an instant, forgot his shame in a deeper emotion, and exposed his abject features, in order to cast an anxious and troubled glance at the dark assemblage of chiefs. The deep and impressive silence was finally broken by the aged warrior so often named. He arose from the earth, and moving past the im movable form of Uncas, placed himself in a dignified and erect attitude before the offender, At that moment, the withered