mmemorate the scenes of which it had so lately been the witness.

CHAPTER XXX.

Oh! let me only breathe the air,
The blessed air that's breath'd by thee;
And, whether on its wings it bear
Healing or death, 'tis sweet to me!
MOORE.

Pathfinder was accustomed to solitude; but, when the _Scud_ had actually
disappeared, he was almost overcome with a sense of his loneliness.
Never before had he been conscious of his isolated condition in the
world; for his feelings had gradually been accustoming themselves to the
blandishments and wants of social life; particularly as the last were
connected with the domestic affections. Now, all had vanished, as it
might be, in one moment; and he was left equally without companions
and without hope. Even Chingachgook had left him, though it was but
temporarily; still his presence was missed at the precise instant which
might be termed the most critical in our hero's life.

Pathfinder stood leaning on his rifle, in the attitude described in the
last chapter, a long time after the _Scud_ had disappeared. The rigidity
of his limbs seemed permanent; and none but a man accustomed to put his
muscles to the severest proof could have maintained that posture, with
its marble-like inflexibility, for so great a length of time. At length
he moved away from the spot; the motion of the body being preceded by a
sigh that seemed to heave up from the very depths of his bosom.

It was a peculiarity of this extraordinary being that his senses and his
limbs, for all practical purposes, were never at fault, let the mind
be preoccupied with other interests as much as it might. On the present
occasion neither of these great auxiliaries failed him; but, though
his thoughts were exclusively occupied with Mabel, her beauty, her
preference of Jasper, her tears, and her departure, he moved in a direct
line to the spot where June still remained, which was the grave of her
husband. The conversation that followed passed in the language of the
Tuscaroras, which Pathfinder spoke fluently; but, as that tongue is
understood only by the extremely learned, we shall translate it freely
into the English; preserving, as far as possible, the tone of thought
of each interlocutor, as well as the peculiarities of manner. June had
suffered her hair to fall about her face, had taken a seat on a stone
which had been dug from the excavation made by the grave, and was
hanging over the spot which