e chief, that both my uncle and myself bear with
pride; for it is the memorial of an important service done my family by
a warrior in the old wars of the provinces."

"Uncas! did ye call him Uncas?" repeated the trapper, approaching the
youth and parting the dark curls which clustered over his brow, without
the slightest resistance on the part of their wondering owner. "Ah my
eyes are old, and not so keen as when I was a warrior myself; but I can
see the look of the father in the son! I saw it when he first came nigh,
but so many things have since passed before my failing sight, that I
could not name the place where I had met his likeness! Tell me, lad, by
what name is your father known?"

"He was an officer of the States in the war of the revolution, of my own
name of course; my mother's brother was called Duncan Uncas Heyward."

"Still Uncas! still Uncas!" echoed the other, trembling with eagerness.
"And his father?"

"Was called the same, without the appellation of the native chief. It
was to him, and to my grandmother, that the service of which I have just
spoken was rendered."

"I know'd it! I know'd it!" shouted the old man, in his tremulous
voice, his rigid features working powerfully, as if the names the other
mentioned awakened some long dormant emotions, connected with the events
of an anterior age. "I know'd it! son or grandson, it is all the same;
it is the blood, and 'tis the look! Tell me, is he they call'd Duncan,
without the Uncas--is he living?"

The young man shook his head sorrowfully, as he replied in the negative.

"He died full of days and of honours. Beloved, happy, and bestowing
happiness!"

"Full of days!" repeated the trapper, looking down at his own meagre,
but still muscular hands. "Ah! he liv'd in the settlements, and was wise
only after their fashions. But you have often seen him; and you have
heard him discourse of Uncas, and of the wilderness?"

"Often! he was then an officer of the king; but when the war took place
between the crown and her colonies, my grandfather did not forget his
birthplace, but threw off the empty allegiance of names, and was true to
his proper country; he fought on the side of liberty."

"There was reason in it; and what is better, there was natur'! Come, sit
ye down beside me, lad; sit ye down, and tell me of what your grand'ther
used to speak, when his mind dwelt on the wonders of the wilderness."

The youth smiled, no less at the importunity than at