It was in the midst of one of his highest flights of eloquence, that a
man, so aged as to walk with the greatest difficulty, entered the very
centre of the circle, and took his stand directly in front of the
speaker. An ear of great acuteness might possibly have detected that
the tones of the orator faltered a little, as his flashing look first
fell on this unexpected object, though the change was so trifling,
that none, but such as thoroughly knew the parties, would have
suspected it. The stranger had once been as distinguished for his
beauty and proportions, as had been his eagle eye for its irresistible
and terrible glance. But his skin was now wrinkled, and his features
furrowed with so many scars, as to have obtained for him, half a
century before, from the French of the Canadas, a title which has been
borne by so many of the heroes of France, and which had now been
adopted into the language of the wild horde of whom we are writing, as
the one most expressive of the deeds of their own brave.
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