ent,
within the powerful light of a glaring torch, while their juniors and
inferiors were arranged in the background, presenting a dark outline
of swarthy and marked visages. In the very center of the lodge,
immediately under an opening that admitted the twinkling light of one
or two stars, stood Uncas, calm, elevated, and collected. His high and
haughty carriage was not lost on his captors, who often bent their
looks on his person with eyes which, while they lost none of their
inflexibility of purpose, plainly betrayed their admiration of the
stranger's daring.

III

LEATHER-STOCKING'S FAREWELL[65]

Effingham and Elizabeth were surprized at the manner of the
Leather-Stocking, which was unusually impressive and solemn; but,
attributing it to the scene, the young man turned to the monument, and
read aloud:

"Sacred to the memory of Oliver Effingham, Esquire, formerly a major
in his B. Majesty's 60th Foot; a soldier of tried valor; a subject of
chivalrous loyalty; and a man of honesty. To these virtues he added
the graces of a Christian. The morning of his life was spent in
honor, wealth, and power; but its evening was obscured by poverty,
neglect, and disease, which were alleviated only by the tender care of
his old, faithful, and upright friend and attendant, Nathaniel Bumppo.
His descendants rear this stone to the virtues of the master, and to
the enduring gratitude of the servant."

[Footnote 65: From Chapter XLI of "The Pioneers." Leather-Stocking was
a name given by Cooper to his character Natty Bumppo, who, also, in
various works, bore the name of Hawkeye, Pathfinder and Deerslayer.
Leather-Stocking appears in five of Cooper's books, which are commonly
and collectively known as "the Leather-Stocking Tales." He has
generally been accepted as a type of the hardy frontiersman who, in
the years following the Revolution, carried civilization westward.]

The Leather-Stocking stared at the sound of his own name, and a smile
of joy illumined his wrinkled features as he said:

"And did ye say it, lad? have you then got the old man's name cut in
the stone by the side of his master's? God bless ye, children! 'twas a
kind thought, and kindness goes to the heart as life shortens."

Elizabeth turned her back to the speakers. Effingham made a fruitless
effort before he succeeded in saying:

"It is there cut in plain marble; but it should have been written in
letters of gold!"

"Show me the name, boy," said N