Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 3).djvu/73

 "You might not startle a wolf, or turn the Royal Americans from a charge; but I have seen the time when you had a better favoured look, major," returned the scout, dryly; "your streaked countenances are not ill judged of by the squaws, but young women of white blood give the preference to their own colour. See," he added, pointing to a place where the water trickled from a rock, forming a little crystal spring, before it found an issue through the adjacent crevices; "you may easily get rid of the Sagamore's daub, and when you come back, I will try my hand at a new embellishment. It's as common for a conjuror to alter his paint, as for a buck in the settlements to change his finery."

The deliberate woodsman had little occasion to hunt for arguments to enforce his advice. He was yet speaking when Duncan availed himself of the water. In a moment, every frightful or offensive mark was obliterated, and the youth appeared again in the fine and polished lineaments with which he had been gifted by nature.