r among the Mohawks!"

"Something like this I had heard before," said Cora, observing that he
paused to suppress those passions which began to burn with too bright a
flame, as he recalled the recollection of his supposed injuries.

"Was it the fault of Le Renard that his head was not made of rock? Who
gave him the fire-water? who made him a villain? 'Twas the pale-faces,
the people of your own color."

"And am I answerable that thoughtless and unprincipled men exist, whose
shades of countenance may resemble mine?" Cora calmly demanded of the
excited savage.

"No; Magua is a man, and not a fool; such as you never open their lips
to the burning stream: the Great Spirit has given you wisdom!"

"What then have I to do, or say, in the matter of your misfortunes, not
to say of your errors?"

"Listen," repeated the Indian, resuming his earnest attitude; "when his
English and French fathers dug up the hatchet, Le Renard struck the
war-post of the Mohawks, and went out against his own nation. The
pale-faces have driven the redskins from their hunting-grounds, and now
when they fight, a white man leads the way. The old chief at Horican,
your father, was the great captain of our war-party. He said to the
Mohawks do this, and do that, and he was minded. He made a law, that if
an Indian swallowed the fire-water, and came into the cloth wigwams of
his warriors, it should not be forgotten. Magua foolishly opened his
mouth, and the hot liquor led him into the cabin of Munro. What did the
gray-head? let his daughter say."

"He forgot not his words, and did justice by punishing the offender,"
said the undaunted daughter.

"Justice!" repeated the Indian, casting an oblique glance of the most
ferocious expression at her unyielding countenance; "is it justice to
make evil, and then punish for it? Magua was not himself; it was the
fire-water that spoke and acted for him! but Munro did not believe it.
The Huron chief was tied up before all the pale-faced warriors, and
whipped like a dog."

Cora remained silent, for she knew not how to palliate this imprudent
severity on the part of her father, in a manner to suit the
comprehension of an Indian.

"See!" continued Magua, tearing aside the slight calico that very
imperfectly concealed his painted breast; "here are scars given by
knives and bullets--of these a warrior may boast before his nation; but
the gray-head has left marks on the back of the Huron chief, that he
must hide, like