[*] I should
think--"
[*] They who have read the preceding books, in which, the trapper
appears as a hunter and a scout, will readily understand the
allusions.
"Ay," continued the old man, in a voice, which betrayed how powerfully
his own faculties retained the impression of the spectacle, "I have
been a dweller in forests, and in the wilderness for three-score and
ten years, and if any can pretend to know the world, or to have seen
scary sights, it is myself! But never, before nor since, have I seen
human man in such a state of mortal despair as that very savage; and
yet he scorned to speak, or to cry out, or to own his forlorn
condition! It is their gift, and nobly did he maintain it!"
"Harkee, old trapper," interrupted Paul, who, content with the
knowledge that his waist was grasped by one of the arms of Ellen, had
hitherto ridden in unusual silence; "my eyes are as true and as
delicate as a humming-bird's in the day; but they are nothing worth
boasting of by starlight. Is that a sick buffaloe, crawling along in
the bottom, there, or is it one of the stray cattle of the savages?"
The whole party drew up, in order to examine the object, which Paul
had pointed out.
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