h does not ruffle the water can blow them away. He
has not answered my question; when a chief puts a question, his friend
should not talk of other things."

"I understand you, Delaware; I understand well enough what you mean, and
truth won't allow me to say otherwise. Still it's not as easy to answer
as you seem to think, for this plain reason. You wish me to say what
I would do if I had a betrothed as you have, here, on the lake, and a
fri'nd yonder in the Huron camp, in danger of the torments. That's it,
isn't it?"

The Indian bowed his head silently, and always with unmoved gravity,
though his eye twinkled at the sight of the other's embarrassment.

"Well, I never had a betrothed--never had the kind of feelin's toward
any young woman that you have towards Hist, though the Lord knows my
feelin's are kind enough towards 'em all! Still my heart, as they call
it in such matters, isn't touched, and therefore I can't say what I
would do. A fri'nd pulls strong, that I know by exper'ence, Sarpent,
but, by all that I've seen and heard consarning love, I'm led to think
that a betrothed pulls stronger."

"True; but the betrothed of Chingachgook does not pull towards the
lodges of the Delawares; she pulls towards the camp of the Hurons."

"She's a noble gal, for all her little feet, and hands that an't bigger
than a child's, and a voice that is as pleasant as a mocker's; she's a
noble gal, and like the stock of her sires! Well, what is it, Sarpent;
for I conclude she hasn't changed her mind, and means to give herself
up, and turn Huron wife. What is it you want?"

"Wah-ta-Wah will never live in the wigwam of an Iroquois," answered
the Delaware drily. "She has little feet, but they can carry her to the
villages of her people; she has small hands, too, but her mind is large.
My brother will see what we can do, when the time shall come, rather
than let him die under Mingo torments."

"Attempt nothing heedlessly, Delaware," said the other earnestly; "I
suppose you must and will have your way; and, on the whole it's right
you should, for you'd neither be happy, unless something was undertaken.
But attempt nothing heedlessly--I didn't expect you'd quit the lake,
while my matter remained in unsartainty, but remember, Sarpent, that no
torments that Mingo ingenuity can invent, no ta'ntings and revilings;
no burnings and roastings and nail-tearings, nor any other onhuman
contrivances can so soon break down my spirit, as to find tha