"
"The man is given to speak in parables," muttered the single-minded
trapper; "but I conclude there is always some meaning hidden in his
words, though it is as hard to find sense in his speeches, as to
discover three eagles on the same tree. It will be wise, friend, to
make a cover, lest the sons of the squatter should be out skirting on
our trail, and, as you well know, there is some reason to fear yonder
thicket contains a sight that may horrify a woman's mind. Are you man
enough to look death in the face; or shall I run the risk of the
hounds raising an outcry, and go in myself? You see the pup is willing
to run with an open mouth, already."
"Am I man enough! Venerable trapper, our communications have a recent
origin, or thy interrogatory might have a tendency to embroil us in
angry disputation. Am I man enough! I claim to be of the class,
mammalia; order, primates; genus, homo! Such are my physical
attributes; of my moral properties, let posterity speak; it becomes me
to be mute."
"Physic may do for such as relish it; to my taste and judgment it is
neither palatable nor healthy; but morals never did harm to any living
mortal, be it that he was a sojourner in the forest, or a dweller in
the midst of glazed windows and smoking chimneys.
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