Page:The last of the Mohicans (1826 Volume 3).djvu/98

 blood is as little tainted by the cross of a bear as your own. Have you so soon forgotten from whom you received the foolish instrument you hold in your hand!"

"Can these things be?" returned David, breathing more freely, as the truth began to dawn upon him. "I have found many marvels during my sojourn with the heathen, but surely, nothing to excel this!"

"Come, come," returned Hawk-eye, uncasing his honest countenance, the better to assure the wavering confidence of his companion; "you may see a skin, which, if it be not as white as one of the gentle ones, has no tinge of red to it, that the winds of the heaven and the sun have not bestowed. Now let us to business."

"First tell me of the maiden, and of the youth who so bravely sought her," interrupted David.

"Ay, they are happily freed from the tomahawks of these varlets! But can you put me on the scent of Uncas?"

"The young man is in bondage, and much I fear is his death decreed. I greatly mourn, that one so well disposed should